Console best movie i've ever seen.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Maddyclassicfilms Lady Jane is directed by Trevor Nunn, is written by Chris Bryant and David Edgar and has music by Stephen Oliver. The film stars Helena Bonham Carter, John Wood, Cary Elwes, Michael Hordern, Patrick Stewart, Sara Kestleman, Jill Bennett, Warren Saire and Jane Lapotaire.This film tells the story of one of Britain's most tragic monarchs, Lady Jane Grey, who was known as the nine day Queen. This film captures the cruelty and violence of the Tudor court very well. To survive you had to be strong and ruthless, the strong closed in on the weak and innocent and used them. I love how often characters allegiances change in this film. Watch the minor characters, one moment they are loyal to King Edward and then to Jane and at the end of the film they show up again now loyal to Queen Mary. Whoever had power at one moment the Lords and Ladies flocked towards, if that person lost power they were abandoned just as quickly. The young King Edward VI(Warren Saire)is dying. His guardian the scheming John Dudley(John Wood), is trying to decide who will succeed the young king. Dudley decides the throne will go to the great niece of King Henry VIII Lady Jane Grey(Helena Bonham Carter). Dudley marries off his youngest son Guilford(Cary Elwes)to Lady Jane, he intends to persuade Guilford to influence her so he can use the young couple as puppet rulers carrying out his orders. Jane however is an independent and strong young woman, she will not be controlled easily. Jane is also a complete innocent, she doesn't want the throne and has no interest in Tudor politics. It is so sad to see how she is used. Jane's mother Frances(Sara Kestelman)is even worse than Dudley, she is interested only in status and power, she forces her daughter to accept the crown and turns her back on her when things do not go as planned. Jane's father Henry Grey, the Duke of Suffolk(Patrick Stewart)goes along with the plan, but only to a certain point and he doesn't abandon his daughter in her time of need.Jane is crowned but will only reign as Queen for nine days. Princess Mary (Jane Lapotaire)demands the throne as her right as the daughter of King Henry VIII and the sister of King Edward VI. Mary calls Jane and her supporters traitors.The relationship between Guilford and Jane was apparently not as loving as the film depicts. Cary and Helena work very well together though and portray their characters as what they were, teenagers who were thrust into something they had no wish for. They hate each other at first but as the film goes on they fall in love and their relationship becomes very poignant. When Jane becomes Queen she does try to do things that will help the poor and bring some joy to the country. I love the costumes and the period design. The score by Stephen Oliver is one of my favourites and it is very moving. The cast are all excellent. Helena gives such a powerful performance, conveying the innocence of Jane and her strength of character. I love her reaction when she screams for Guilford after she has been crowned, she can't believe what is happening and is terrified. Cary is charming as the fun loving Guilford. I love the final scene between him and Helena in the tower, they are both so moving. John Wood gives one of his best performances as the scheming John Dudley. He conveys so much with just a look and he's fascinating to watch throughout the film. I love how he acts like a loving father to King Edward one moment, then the next coldly instructs the doctor to keep the king alive in great pain until he has signed the new accession document.Warren Saire is moving as the tragic Edward. Sara Kestleman is cold and ruthless as Jane's mother. Jane Laptaire portrays Mary as a dignified woman, strong and determined. Mary knows how Tudor games are played and knows how to survive. The scene where she warns Jane to take care shows that Jane was not as strong as her sadly, so she couldn't survive that life.Michael Hordern delivers a touching performance as the kind Dr Feckenham, who is the only one besides Edward VI and Guilford to treat Jane with kindness.I like the film very much but would have liked to have seen more of Jane's nine days as Queen. A must see for anyone who loves films about the Tudors.

SnoopyStyle Henry VIII died in 1547. His only son sickly Edward was 9. The country is divided between Catholics and Reformers. Edward likes his cousin Lady Jane Grey (Helena Bonham Carter) and minister John Dudley Duke of Nothumberland (John Wood) sees the young reformer as a perfect match. In 1553 with Edward dying, John Dudley (John Wood) schemes with Frances Grey to put her daughter Jane on the throne and marry her off to his youngest irresponsible son Guildford Dudley (Cary Elwes). The free thinking Jane and the hard partying Guildford hate the match at first. The Catholics want Mary on the throne after Edward's death. Jane would rule for only 9 days.Firstly, I ignore all the historical inaccuracies in this movie. This is not a big historical event. It's not as if a film claims that Lincoln had slaves. There is no real stakes about faking much of this relationship. This is essentially a romance movie and this one follows a try-and-true method. The characters have real heat hating each other in the beginning and that heat powers the romance. Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes are terrific in this. There are some great Shakespearian actors. Some will notice Patrick Stewart as Jane's father. John Wood is impeccable. This is a terrific romantic movie.

lauradenoon I can't decide if I was more disappointed in the acting, the casting, the script, or the directing. Let's begin with the audio... much of the whispered dialogue is way too soft to be understood, making it difficult to understand and appreciate... this happened time and time again. The plot... for someone knowing very little about the history, there was insufficient development to make it clearly understood how Lady Jane became queen. Character development... there was very little; there seemed to be a severe lack of depth in defining the characters' personalities and not surprisingly a great lack of ability on the part of the actors to bring out anything but the most superficial qualities of their characters. The acting seemed contrived (example is the scene when Jane is being spanked... the crying is so fake). The directing/production... it seems as if nearly every scene ends without a climax... the pauses beteween dialogue exchanges are awkward; the scenes seem to jump from one to the other without flow. The script is mundane, boring... an example would be the scene where Jane and her husband are breaking the glasses "it is done" over and over with no sense of build or progression or climax. Ah, the music... alternating between something of a 15th century feel and then 20th century romantic fluff. I can only say that I wish I had that 2 hours of my life back.

bkoganbing To see the real story of where Lady Jane Grey's tragic life had it start one might look at the Disney film, The Sword and the Rose. In that one, soldier of fortune Charles Brandon (Richard Todd) wooed and won Henry VIII's sister Mary (Glynis Johns). Their grand daughter was Lady Jane Grey who for a brief nine days was recognized by some as the Queen of England. Jane Grey (1537-1554) was a quiet, learned, and pious young woman who was a pawn in a power play by the Duke of Northumberland played by John Wood. The minor King Edward VI was a sickly lad who inherited the throne from his father Henry VIII. His original guardians were his uncles Thomas and Edward Seymour, but they got to quarreling and both eventually made it to the executioner's block. In fact Lady Jane Grey opens with Edward Seymour's execution and the Duke of Northumberland assuming guardianship.But he knows he's got a sickly dying king and to preserve the newly formed Anglican church that will go by the boards if the Catholic Mary Tudor inherits the throne, he needs a Protestant on the throne. Of course he wants to insure his own dominance. To do that he and Jane's parents get an arranged marriage with his youngest son, Guilford Dudley who mostly is interested in sampling the fleshpots of whatever town he's in. Still he's a handsome bloke if I do say so.Lady Jane gives you the politics, but concentrates on a legendary romance that actually developed out of this arranged marriage. Cary Elwes as Guilford and Helena Bonham Carter as Jane are one appealing pair. They may or may not have been that taken with each other as presented here, but why let that get in the way of an appealing story.By all accounts John Wood as the Duke of Northumberland was as big an intriguer and egomaniac as presented here. Allegedly he had one overbearing personality and the royal council went to the Catholic Mary rather than deal with him any longer. A lot of them had reason to regret that shortly.Sara Kestelman and Patrick Stewart are Jane's parents, a pair of greedy rogues if there ever were. Stewart gets his just desserts, but Kestelman as Frances if anything was downplayed. She actually gave up her place in the line of succession for her daughter because between all of them, they thought they could control Jane and Guilford. By all accounts she was one malignant witch of a woman who actually survived it all.The most touching performance here is young Warren Saire as the terminally ill Edward VI. The kid who changed places with a doppleganger beggar boy did not have a happy reign while he was in his minority. He so wanted to live and secure a Tudor succession.Lady Jane isn't accurate history, but it's still a fine film with a good cast and thoroughly enjoyable.