The Queen Falters
Cine Yelmo Ideal
Calle Dr. Cortezo, 6
Metro Sol/Tirso de Molina
schedule
As a big fan of Shakur Kapur’s film Elizabeth (yup, I
own it), I felt compelled to put aside what history tells me about sequels and see
the highly anticipated, Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
The second part of her story picks up after the wave of threats to her throne
were settled…or were they? Aha! No! She must now battle another wave
of threats to her throne: from Catholic plots, from her status as a single
woman, and from the Spanish. Truthfully we don’t get to see much of the
“golden” in this golden age – “besieged”
is how the era really comes off.
Visually, this film is just as stunning as the first. Cate Blanchett, when
portraying
carrying out her official duties is never less than an other-worldy and
demanding presence. And to see her, de-wigged, in her nightgown, standing at
the edge of a cliff watching the Spanish armada burn does give one little
chills. The rest of the cast is strong, Geoffry Rush returns as Walsingham, her
master of intrigues, Clive Owen cuts a dashing figure as Walter Raleigh, and
Samantha Morton makes you wish you could see more of Mary Queen of Scots,
enemy.
Charming pirates and assassins aside, this film wants us to believe that the
queen’s greatest challenge was her own human (dare we say female?)
vulnerability. Because what would a drama about a monarch be if it didn’t
highlight the tender, vulnerable side of such an iconic figure as she is
overwhelmed by the role she must play in history?
And this iconic monarch’s weak point is, of course, love and romance. Amid all
the political intrigue, the battles, assassination attempts and marriage
proposals, she gets swept away by the sea captain, Walter Raleigh, a pirate in
quite a tasty treat) in
(Note to the reader – this review will not deal with this films many historical
innaccuracies; we all know by now that history films “embellish” the
history they present, right? Right. Moving on).
She discourages her lovely lady-in-waiting, Bess, from being romanced by
save her from heartbreak. But soon we see a terrible jealous insecurity
growing, generally because she is resentful at having to gradually give up the
thought of a husband and family and specifically because she takes quite a
liking to Raleigh herself (and admittedly, Clive Owen’s pretty dreamy here, I’d
risk pissing off a queen to marry him!) So it’s entirely possible that
actually did get in embarrassingly undignified spats with her lady-in-waiting
over a crush. But unfortunately for the viewer, it doesn’t make for very
compelling cinema.
The pettiness of her bouts of insecurity 1) are unconvincing in a character
otherwise so solid and 2) are just hard to watch, and not in a good way. The
most interesting part of the first film was not the romance, which was
ancillary to the political intrigue, but the political intrigue itself. They
should have gone for the same idea this time. We want to see more of the
political woman who maneuvers her way out of endless marriage proposals and who
recognizes the value of
exploration. More of the fierce queen who roars at the Spanish ambassador that
she will “strip
bare if you dare to try me!”, and less of the catty girl pouting because
she’s not getting picked to dance the
The rest of the film has plenty to be developed, too much actually, and can’t
quite organize it well enough. The narrative fails to bring together so many
threads and climactic moments. The emotionally charged sequence around the
execution of Mary is just one of those climaxes, but by the time the
“real” climax, the long, visually complicated defeat of the Spanish
armada comes around, you feel like you’ve just been dragged over too much
(stunningly gorgeous) terrain.
Bottom line: worth seeing on the big screen if you like movies that are “pretty”,
but I won’t be adding it to my collection alongside the first
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