Directed by
Shekhar Kapur
114 minutes
Rated M
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
Elizabeth - The Golden Age
Synopsis: The year is 1585 and Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) has been reigning monarch over England for three decades and is at the height of her power. But trouble is brewing all about her. Her imprisoned half-sister Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton) has rebellious supporters and King Phillip of Spain (Jordi Molla) seeks to overthrow the English queen and return Catholicism to the country. Meantime the dashing Walter Raleigh (Clive Owens) has returned from the New World and Her Maj asks trusted lady-in-waiting Bess Throckmorton (Abbie Cornish) to befriend the dashing sailor on her behalf. Trusted court advisor, Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) is busy uncovering traitorous plots and setting England on a collision course with Spain. Is this monarch strong enough to juggle such personal and political turmoil all at the one time?Some critics are up in arms about this film because it plays fast and loose with historical facts. A valid point but I personally was little piqued by the fact that Raleigh was not part of the campaign against the Spanish Armada as is alleged. And if people weren’t so hell-bent on comparing this film to its forbear, the Oscar-winning Elizabeth, it might have been judged a little less harshly.
Blanchett is again excellent in the role that won her an Oscar back in 1998. She gives ER a modern sensibility with resonance for today’s world and some lessons modern politicians could to well to heed. She is a woman at her peak but with an even-handedness and little time for fanaticism or gratuitous warfare. The contrast between her in all her majesty, centre stage as it were, and her in private is excellently handled. Owens is supremely dashing as Raleigh. Relative newcomer (at least to the international scene) Cornish positively shines as Bess and Rush is as good as he always is as the conniving Walsingham. So where, given my indifference to the historical inaccuracies, does my main gripe lie,?
Despite the fine acting by all in this production, the whole thing is so bloated with pomp and ceremony, excessively fulsome costuming and domineering musical score that one ends up noticing these trappings before one notices the characters and that is a negative in any film. Elizabeth is in a new gown in virtually every scene and at times the music is so overwhelming that it becomes positively aggravating as it screams “I am an epic – look and listen!!!!”
Despite this major flaw, the balance of the film was engaging enough to keep my attention and entertain and I was particularly impressed with the settings – both real locations (Winchester Cathedral, Hatfield House and other stunning historical sites) and stage constructions conveying the vast spaces of royal palaces and the intimacy of the Queen’s bedchamber. At times the camera looks down from a great height upon vaulted halls through which the Queen glides and the feeling is absolutely awe-inspiring. Unfortunately the ships in the Armada were a touch too digital for my liking and the battle is the sort of exchange of cannon fire we’ve seen dozens of times before but, all in all, fans of the cast or lovers of costume drama should enjoy this.
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