Elizabeth 

Genre: historical drama

With: Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth I), Christopher Eccleston (the Duke of Norfolk), Kathy Burke (Mary I), Richard Attenborough (Sir William Cecil), Joseph Fiennes (Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester), Geoffrey Rush (Sir Francis Walsingham), Fanny Ardant (Marie de Guise), Vincent Cassel (le duc d’Anjou)

Director: Shekhar Kapur

Release: 1998

Studio: PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title Films, Channel Four Films

Rating: 14

MBiS score: 8.4/10

‟Will You Leave Your Kingdom to a Heretic?”

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Story-line: two decades have passed since Henry VIII’s demise and England is now ruled by his daughter Mary. Having ‟Bloody Mary” on the throne is reassuring for English Catholics and the Holy See… but what would happen if Elizabeth, Mary’s Protestant half-sister, ever became queen?   

Pluses: excellent acting by Cate Blanchett and an all-star cast (Geoffrey Rush!), an electrifying screenplay by Michael Hirst, polished dialogues, fine direction and top-level production values.

Minuses: some have claimed that ELIZABETH takes liberties with historical events (and they may be right) but it’s such a dynamic film that I loved it anyway. Expect violence and persecution as the screenplay depicts a very brutal era in English history (from 1554 onward).

Comments: several years ago, I wrote a very enthusiastic review of LA REINE MARGOT – calling it a James Bond film from the Sixteenth century – and this one, although a bit less remarkable, is in the same vein. Religion, politics, the monarchy and love… ELIZABETH tackles hot button issues and does so in a vigorous, heart-stopping way.

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