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Elizabeth : Special Edition [1998]
from Universal Pictures UK
starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough
directed by Shekhar Kapur

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

One of the big Elizabethan-era films of 1998, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth serves up a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war. England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear--that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her death--is realised. Still, the late Queen Mary has her loyalists. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers (including Sir William Cecil, superbly played by Richard Attenborough) beg her to marry any one of her would-be suitors to stabilise England's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) is married, however, and shows he cannot stand up to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth strikes against her enemies before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails rejecting love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen.

Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the naive and vibrant princess who becomes the stubborn and knowing queen is both severe and sympathetic. Her ethereal, pale beauty is equal parts fire and ice, her delivery of such lines as "There will be only one mistress here and no master!" expressed with command rather than hysterics. As striking as Blanchett's performance is the film's lavish and dramatic production design. The cold, dark sets paired with the lush costuming show the golden age of England's monarchy emerging from the Middle Ages. Rich velvet brushes over the dank stones while power is achieved at any price, and with such attention to physical detail, Elizabeth fully immerses you into its compelling chronicle of pioneering feminism and revisionist history. --Shannon Gee

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• Elizabeth from princess to icon: One mistress and no master.
  Among Great Britain's monarchs, two queens stand out in particular: Elizabeth I. and Queen Victoria. Both came to power at extremely young ages, and at times of political instability which would have set the odds of survival against any new ruler, but particularly so, against a woman. Both beat those odds in ways few people would have foreseen: They not only persevered but ruled for a nearly unparalleled long time, and during their reign achieved to both strengthen England's economy and international stance... more info

• The Godfather, Tudor style
  Partially reinventing the period movie, stylistically at least, almost as radically as Martin Scorsese reinvented the Biblical epic with his Last Temptation, Shekhur Kapur's account of the insecure early days of Elizabeth I's reign, Elizabeth, is a claustrophobic film set in a dark world of cold grey stone, alternating overhead shots with tight medium shots rather than stressing spectacle or glamour, more political thriller than costume epic. Indeed, with its bloody finale clearly inspired by The Godfather... more info

• Historically inaccurate
  A huge dissappointment. Having read Alison Weir's book on Elizabeth 1st, I was amazed by the inaccuracy's in the film. The story of Elizabeth is exciting and captivating in it's own right and doesn't need poetic licence to improve it. Sadly the inaccuracies totally spoiled the film for me. Wilikipedia gives a very good precis of all the inaccuracies.

• An interesting movie.
  The struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants are threatening to tear the nation in two. Out of this chaos rises Englands greatest Monarch, but one mans hero is another mans villian. Cate Blanchett makes a great Queen Elizabeth, Geoffrey Rush is (as always) fantastic as Sir Francis Walsingham and Christopher Eccleston is also impressive as the Duke of Norfolk. Joseph Fiennes (as Robert Dudley)is out of his depth. He is a good actor but in this movie he is the weak link in what otherwise is a great... more info

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