before the great fire and the great plague of the mid seventeenth century and london slowly and joyously awake to the end of the interregnum and that dark period of the evil regicide and cromwell and his dull and dim son and successor . theater shut down during the protectorate now reopen and the die hard and dour puritan either doff their somber garb and decamp for more favorable vice free venue or join the fun . director richard eyre and script author jeffrey hatcher ( who write the play on which stage beauty be derive ) set the screen with a feast of authentic costume and an almost palpable ambiance of a great city resurrect a rich cultural life and at least for those of mean . but and as have be say and the play be the thing and the acting here be uniformly engross and indeed superb . base more or less on history and the film chronicle an awkward and for many painful evolution of law and theater and the two intertwine . for when charles ii be restore to the throne lose by his father ( who also lose something else of even more estimable value ) and theater reopen but under an old law that forbid the presence of actress on the stage . the great female role of shakespeare be perform by men and some of whom be the subject of audience and patron adulation for their skill of gender mimicry . ned keynaston ( billy crudop ) be the leader of the pack and a star of the stage whose desdemona be the height of his career . serve a his dresser be maria ( clair dane ) and a frustrated actress who mouth the line of desdemona from the side of the stage a ned wow the punter . maria actually get to act behind ned back but in a less than first line theater and her costume borrow and to be generous and from the unsuspecting ned . what follow be a comedy and a drama a the king ( rupert everett ) and at the urging of one of his mistress and nell gynn ( newcomer zoe tapper ) proclaim that woman may take on the role of their sex and the cadre of female impersonator must seek new and gender authentic role . at first amuse and then devastate by a loss of role and income and prestige and ned slide to sing bawdy song in drag to a somewhat low ( er ) class clientele in a sink run by a foulmouthed harridan . but under the protection of a genuinely odious and rotund and foul sir charles ( richard griffith ) and maria become the toast of the town for her fine acting . sexual attraction equally match by a move ambiguity permeate both the role play by maria and ned and their off stage life . maria be in love with ned who be and at least and potentially bisexual while actually intimate with one of the king favorite and the second duke of buckingham ( ben chaplin ) . buckingham be and in actuality and one of the most complex character during charles two decade exile and then restoration to the throne . a conniver and master manipulator and here his skill be show a be wholly adapt to survive in a court attend by intrigue at every turn . eyre project role reversal both with ned and maria theater life and their increasing personal but never simple involvement . can he make love to a woman . do he know himself what his orientation be . there be a certain contemporaneity to the artfully acted issue raise in this mid 1600s scenario . eyre could not have select a good cast . crudop be penetrate a a man whose whole and strange persona be transform in an instant by a monarch command . everett be disarmingly foppish a the stuart monarch but in a critical scene he reveal his deep and lasting resentment over his father and his dynasty fate a he order woman to be allow to perform . edward fox be splendid in short take a charles key minister and sir edward hyde ( the earl of clarendon but he never identify with his proper peerage title ) . zoe tapper may well have study the life of her character and the protestant whore ( so know and love by the london underclass to distinguish her from the despise catholic whore who alternate with nell for the king company and body ( forget about the queen she doesn not even make an appearance here ) . she crude and raw and vulgar and sentimental and loyal and cunning she be nell gynn . hugh bonneville be the randy and compulsive diarist sir samuel pepys and father of the royal navy and here a stage door johnny and a voyeur . ben chaplin a the duke of buckingham be just the right admixture of randiness and a healthy regard for the penalty that can be incur by go too far over the edge of conventionality . and tom wilkinson a ned and then maria stage impresario combine business acumen with a soft human touch . but special kudos go to clair dane this be her best performance to date . she run the gamut of emotion from helpless subservience to repressive law to sprightly awaken of her worth to deep confusion about her priority and need . she inhabit the role of maria with skill and grace . an oscar worthy display . the score be fine and briskly and authentically complement the story . and for the first time ever in a movie a king of england be show cavort in the royal rack with his mistress while six adorable king charles spaniel look on . positive .