Elizabeth
I
Starring: Cate Blanchett,
Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes and Richard
Attenborough.
Rated: R for violence, nudity
and sexuality.
First released in England, directed by Shekhar Kapur.
Written by Michael Hist.
Plot: Elizabeth’s rise to power.
Doing things her own way and getting them done.
Historical accuracy: Close
enough. Every source hammers home the fact that Elizabeth was a virgin. Yet in the movie she is
having an affair with Lord Robert. Also the Duke of Anjou is a cross dresser.
Sir Francis Walsingham sleeps with Mary of Guise and the next morning she is
found dead. In real life she did not die of poisoning but of dropsy (AKA
edema).
Picture it. England 1558, a young virgin princess ascends the
throne, refuses to marry and yet succeeds despite the death threats coming from
France, Spain and even the pope. She does
things her own way. She establishes the Protestant Church of England and to
please the Catholics in her kingdom becomes Supreme Governor of the Church of
England instead of Supreme Head as King Henry VIII had been. This move unites
the people of England so as to create uniformity
among the people and a united front to the rest of the world. She presents
herself as a strong, courageous woman who knows what she wants and how to get it
without portraying herself as a helpless female. At the end of her reign England
was considered one of the most powerful countries in the
world.
Queen Elizabeth I runs the country her own way for 45
years and is considered to be one of the greatest monarchs in English history.
She built up the army, defeated the Spanish Armada and Cate Blanchett stars as Queen
Elizabeth and when watching the move she actually becomes the virgin queen. The physical
likeness and Blanchett’s acting ability allow people to believe that the actual
Queen Elizabeth I has been resurrected and it waltzing on the screen in front of
you. Rolling Stone commends Cate Blanchett’s performance by saying,” the film
belongs to Blanchett -- this hellcat Virgin Queen is something to see.” Movie critic, Roger Ebert describes
Elizabeth as she
is portrayed in the movie, “She is saucy and heedless at first, headstrong when
she shouldn't be, but smart, and able to learn. By the end she has outsmarted
everyone and become one of the rare early female heads of state to rule
successfully without an alliance with a man.”
I found
this movie to be difficult to understand. None of the characters are clearly
introduced until much later in the movie or if viewers make the proper
deductions as to who is who. The movie is also very fragmented. I had a hard
time keeping up with the plot as it seemed to be twisting every which way. One
second Queen Elizabeth is in her room undressing and the next scene is a
battlefield filled with bloody troops and I didn’t know why. I later found out that they were in
Scotland but again I didn’t know
why. I also noticed that Elizabeth has magically
darkening hair. At the beginning Elizabeth has light reddish hair that makes her
It gets darker and darker as the movie goes on until she cuts it all off at the
end to symbolize her becoming a virgin.
It
is, however historically accurate except for Elizabeth and Lord Dudley’s affair. They start
off as friends and quickly become lovers.
When Duke of Norfolk comes
to arrest Elizabeth he refers to her as “Princess
Elizabeth” when in truth she was never called “princess” after her mother, Anne
Boleyn’s death. King Henry VIII took both of his daughter’s proper titles away
and Elizabeth
was usually referred to as Lady Elizabeth. The costumes and scenery are kept within
the time period and are very elaborate.
Historical accuracy: A
Entertainment: B+
Reviews and biographical
information:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981120/REVIEWS/811200303/1023
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5948017/review/5948018/elizabeth
http://www.elizabethi.org/us/biography.