Which 1998 film won the Academy Award for Best Picture despite being set during the Elizabethan era?

Shakespeare in Love won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 1999 ceremony.

Directed by John Madden, the romantic comedy imagines a fictional love affair involving William Shakespeare while he is writing Romeo and Juliet. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Viola de Lesseps, and Joseph Fiennes plays Shakespeare.

The film won seven Oscars from thirteen nominations, including Best Actress for Paltrow, Best Supporting Actress for Judi Dench, and Best Original Screenplay for Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Its Best Picture victory came over films including Saving Private Ryan and Elizabeth.

The movie is a fictionalized story rather than a biography. It uses real theatrical figures and historical details, but the central romance and several production events are inventions designed for the screenplay.