The film is a fictionalized version of the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, poet and patron of the arts, and suggests he was the actual author of William Shakespeare's plays.

[6] In modern-day New York, Derek Jacobi arrives at a theatre where he delivers a monologue questioning the lack of manuscript writings of William Shakespeare, despite the undeniable fact that he is the most performed playwright of all time.

The narrator offers to take the viewers into a different story behind the origin of Shakespeare's plays: "one of quills and swords, of power and betrayal, of a stage conquered and a throne lost."

A growing group of malcontent nobles gather at court, led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, who is widely believed to be Elizabeth's bastard son.

The play, Henry V, galvanizes the people and even Ben, who had contemptuously dismissed Edward's skill as a writer as the passing fancy of a bored nobleman, is impressed.

After the elder Earl of Oxford's death, the teenage Edward is made a ″ward of court″ and entrusted to William Cecil and must write his plays secretly to avoid his guardian's ire.

William Cecil, already close to the future queen, hid the child and passed him off as the son of the Earl of Oxford, revealing Edward's parentage to him: he is the first of Elizabeth's bastard children.

Horrified by the failure of his plan for the succession, the expected execution of his son and the knowledge that he committed incest with his own mother, Edward nevertheless visits the Queen in a private audience to beg her to spare Henry.

Returning to the present-day theatre, the narrator concludes the story by revealing the characters' fates: Robert Cecil remained the King's most trusted advisor, but never succeeded in banishing Edward's plays.

"[10] At a press conference at Studio Babelsberg on April 29, 2010, Emmerich noted that the success of his more commercial films made this one possible, and that he got the cast he wanted without the pressure to come up with "at least two A-list American actors.

[12][13][14] Wary of similarities with Amadeus, Emmerich decided to recast it as a film on the politics of succession and the monarchy, a tragedy about kings, queens and princes, with broad plot lines including murder, illegitimacy and incest – "all the elements of a Shakespeare play.

"[15] In a November 2009 interview, Emmerich said the heart of the movie is in the original title The Soul of the Age, and it revolved around three main characters: Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare, and the Earl of Oxford.

In a subsequent announcement in 2010, Emmerich detailed the finalised plot line:[16] It's a mix of a lot of things: it's an historical thriller because it's about who will succeed Queen Elizabeth and the struggle of the people who want to have a hand in it.

Through that story we tell how the plays written by the Earl of Oxford ended up labelled "William Shakespeare".Anonymous was the first motion picture to be shot with the Arri Alexa camera, with most of the period backgrounds created and enhanced via new CGI technology.

[20] Rex Reed regards Anonymous as "one of the most exciting on-screen literary rows since Norman Mailer was beaten with a hammer", and well worth the stamina required to sit out what is an otherwise exhausting film.

Displaying a "rollicking belief in its own nutty bombast" as "history is simultaneously being made up and rewritten", its best scenes are those of the candle-lit interiors caught by the Alexa digital camera on a lovely copper-and-honey-toned palette.

After a week, what remains in Phillips' memory is not the de Vere/Shakespeare conspiracy theory but "the way Redgrave gazes out a window, her reign near the end, her eyes full of regret but also of fiery defiance of the balderdash lapping at her feet.

Though "profoundly mistaken", Anonymous is "a marvellous historical film", giving viewers "a splendid experience: the dialogue, the acting, the depiction of London, the lust, jealousy and intrigue."

"[23] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter ranked it as Emmerich's best film, with a superb cast of British actors, and a stunning digitally-enhanced recreation of London in Elizabethan times.

[25] Robert Koehler of Variety reads the film as an "illustrated argument" of an "aggressively promoted and more frequently debunked" theory, and finds it less interesting than the actors who play a role in, or endorse, it.

[26] David Denby of The New Yorker writes of Emmerich's "preposterous fantasia", where confusion reigns as to which of the virgin queen's illegitimate children is Essex and which Southampton, and where it is not clear what the connection is between the plot to hide the authorship of the plays and the struggle to find a successor to the officially childless Elizabeth.

He concludes that, "The Oxford theory is ridiculous, yet the filmmakers go all the way with it, producing endless scenes of indecipherable court intrigue in dark, smoky rooms, and a fashion show of ruffs, farthingales, and halberds.

[28] Reviewing for Associated Press, Christy Lemire commends Rhys Ifans' performance as "flamboyant, funny, sexy" in an otherwise heavy-handed and clumsy film, whose script "jumps back and forth in time so quickly and without rhyme or reason, it convolutes the narrative."

[29] A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that Anonymous is "a vulgar prank on the English literary tradition, a travesty of British history and a brutal insult to the human imagination".

[37] That same year, it was also nominated for 7 Lolas, winning in 6 Categories including Best Cinematography for Anna J. Foerster, Best Art Direction for Stephan O. Gessler and Sebastian T. Krawinkel and Best Costume Design for Lisy Christl.

According to Sony Pictures, "The objective for our Anonymous program, as stated in the classroom literature, is 'to encourage critical thinking by challenging students to examine the theories about the authorship of Shakespeare's works and to formulate their own opinions.'

"[52] Shapiro believes that while supporters of de Vere's candidacy as the author of Shakespeare's plays have awaited this film with excitement, in his view, they may live to regret it.

"[55] Bert Fields, a lawyer who wrote a book about the authorship issue, thinks scholars may be missing the larger benefit that Anonymous provides – widespread appreciation of the Bard's work.

Gordon McMullan, professor of English at King's College, says Shakespeare wrote the plays, and the idea he didn't is related to a conspiracy theory that coincides with the emergence of the detective genre.

[61] The poem Venus and Adonis is presented as a "hot-off-the-press bestseller" written and printed by de Vere especially for the ageing Queen in 1601 to encourage her to support Essex.