eyesour
Once again the strange star rating system recorded by IMDb fools yours truly. How come this gets 8 stars, when Blanchett and Kapur get only 7.5 for their first offering? I was persuaded to buy this DVD because of the 8 stars, and now feel deceived. Helen Mirren is a very good, and sometimes a great actress. She can be absolutely riveting, and Irons isn't exactly bad. So it's not their faults. It must be the writing and directing that made me yawn. It's the direct lack of direction, in point of fact. The narrative ambles amiably along, pointlessly, now and then intercut with some gratuitous torture, bungled executions, disembowellings etc, which seem to be inserted merely in order to jolt the audience out of their danger of dozing off. There's no overall vision, no palpable theme to interest, engage and stimulate the viewer. Instead his mind wanders: he wonders why the whole presentation looks so cheap, almost amateurish. Lack of genuine ideas, general tiredness.
Maddyclassicfilms
Although not as good as the classic series Elizabeth R,starring Glenda Jackson this series from 2005 is well worth watching.It's focus is on the Virgin Queens later years after she has been on the throne for twenty years.Looking closely at her love affairs with Lord Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester and the Earl Of Essex.Queen Elizabeth the First(Helen Mirren)has made herself one of Europes most powerful rulers and is well known as The Virgin Queen.However her loyal advisors especially Sir Francis Walshingham(Patrick Malahide)and Lord Burghley(Ian McDiarmid)keep saying she should marry for the security of the throne.She eventually says she'll consider a proposal much to the displeasure of her close friend and one true love Lord Robert Dudley(Jeremy Irons)who hates to see her persuaded to do things against her hearts desire.The scenes between Jeremy and Helen are some of the best in the series touching,funny and sexy.Beautiful costumes,period music and one of Helens greatest performances make this a must see.Featuring fine support from the likes of Ian McDiarmid,Patrick Malahide,Toby Jones as Robert Cecil and Hugh Dancy as The Earl Of Essex who becomes Elizabeths favorite after the death of Robert Dudley during the Spanish Armada.This is one to watch if your interested in this remarkable woman who lived life on her own terms and gave up her own emotional desires to give everything she had to England,and of course if you like well made TV drama with fascinating characters.
Terrell-4
This may be a television mini-series but it has the quality, detail and acting superiority of an excellent motion picture. Elizabeth (Helen Mirren) has been on the throne for twenty years. It's 1579 and she is 45 years old. We meet her at the conclusion of a discrete but public examination to establish for all to know that she is capable of bearing a child. The need for her to marry, both to ensure an heir and to ensure her survival as Queen, obsesses her councilors. For Elizabeth, it's not so simple. She is not just a queen, but a sovereign ruler, anointed, in her words, by God. She has the same passionate need for love and intimacy as her subjects. She probably realizes that marriage, in her era, would most likely lead to her own inevitable subordination to her husband if he is English or the subordination of the country to another country if he is foreign. She most probably realizes that by not making a choice, she keeps all the choices on the bargaining table. And, of course, there is the question of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, now a prisoner but a continuing threat to her rule, whom her councilors want dead. There is her own passionate nature focused on Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (Jeremy Irons), and, later, on the young Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex (Hugh Dancy). One will die in bed; one will lose his head. There are religious issues so deeply held they could, and have, split the nation. Before long, there will be the threat of Spanish invasion to deal with. Through it all, Elizabeth procrastinates, twists and turns, takes a step forward and then one back. If we didn't already know her story so well, we might be surprised when we realize that in time the religious question is finessed with little violence, that Mary is dealt with, that the Spanish fail, that her people come to love her (more or less), that she invariably chooses her councilors well and they become dedicated to her, that she will be the one to make the final decisions and that rebellion is a fatal choice for those who disagree with her, even if they are one of her favorites. She is, in fact, a ruler who makes mistakes, can be swayed by vanity and avoids choices, but who when it matters makes the right choices. Helen Mirren does a masterful job, taking Elizabeth from 45 to Elizabeth's death at 69. Elizabeth could be fickle and imperious, but she had a core of steel, particularly when it came to defending her realm and her prerogatives. Mirren is such a dynamic and skilled actor it is entirely believable that the young Earl of Essex just might find the aging Queen an agreeable and intimate companion. Mirren is equally believable in demonstrating the iron will of a Queen who moves against someone she may well have loved. Mirren is at her best in dealing with complex emotions. When Elizabeth at last is brought to sign the order of execution for Mary but then tells the clerk to keep her action secret and not to show the document to anyone until she tells him, Mirren gives us a subtle portrait of Elizabeth, a Queen who knows it's in her best interests to have Mary executed but who flinches from being the one to make the order happen. At some level, Elizabeth must know that her order will not be kept secret, that it will be given to her councilors and that Walsingham will see to it that the execution takes place immediately. As Walsingham says, the Queen wants Mary executed but doesn't want to be the one responsible. It's a complex set of motives and emotions that Mirren has to display; they range from her reluctant signing to her hysteria when she learns Mary has been executed. Equally impressive is Mirren demonstrating the ability of Elizabeth to rouse the rabble with a combination of patriotism and bravado. She does a bravura job with Elizabeth's famous words before her army awaiting the Spanish invasion: "Let tyrants fear; I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good will of my subjects. And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honor and my blood, even the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too!" While Mirren dominates the story, all the actors are excellent. In major roles, in addition to Irons and Dancy, there is Patrick Malahyde as Sir Francis Walsingham, Toby Jones as Robert Cecil, Barbara Flynn as Mary and Ian McDiarmid as William Cecil.
samantha
Being an aspiring historian i love nothing more then to sit and enjoy a historical drama / film. I hold a huge interest in Elizabethan England (Or English history in general really)and the Kings and Queens of the past, most especially one of our best loved monarchs -Queen Elizabeth 1. However, although being only 16, i am not so naive as to believe that the content of this film was entirely factual,however, i Thoroughly enjoyed it - in fact LOVED it! and am currently trying to purchase it on DVD. And may i just add that Hugh Dancy is a suburb actor and extremely dishy!! :P Having seen the adaptation with Cate Blanchett in, but did not feel as connected to character as with Helen's portrayal. I felt Helen Mirren brought more emotion to the character and gave an added human touch to the Queen. I am a big fan of Jeremy Irons and think he portrayed the Earl of Leciester with his usual brilliance . All in all, i have not in the 16 years of my life, seen a Drama / film that i have fallen in love with so greatly, i can not say how worth a watch it is - watch it and see. I highly recommend this film - no questions!
