Mary Queen of Scots
30/01/19 Filed in: Cinema
So after The Favourite, and then Colette, we have Mary Queen of Scots. Three headlining films all featuring female leads. It seems that the industry is finally getting the message that you don't need a male star to sell a film.
In this case we have Saoirse Ronan as the fiery Mary and Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth. Two superb performances even if there has been some criticism regarding historical accuracy, the biggest bugbear being the meeting between the two women which is said never to have occurred. But by adding this fictitious scene it provides the opportunity to bring out the differences in character between the two women. Both needed to take great care, being surrounded by men who didn't think much of having a female queen, and among whom were those who coveted their thrones.
The period settings are magnificent as is the Scottish landscape. And of course it was another opportunity for the costumiers to show their skills. And not to forget makeup. Ronan's hair as Mary is a work of art, while Elizabeth is given her more familiar look, complete with the white mask that she adopted after suffering the disfigurement of smallpox. Two redheads! What could go wrong? Well, just about everything.
Mary immediately upsets the apple cart in Scotland, where her half-brother, Lord Moray, was enjoying the power role. Her Catholic beliefs were not welcomed, nor were her ideas of religious equality among her subjects. This was especially true in the case of the Protestant reformer John Knox, played by a well-disguised David Tennant. And she had no time for him, expelling him from Court. This inevitably led to him preaching against her.
Meanwhile Elizabeth is being warned of Mary's claim to the English throne and seeks to nullify this risk by sending her close confident, and lover, Robert Dudley to propose marriage to Mary, hoping to negate her claim. But Mary was having nothing to do with that idea, but was eventually won over by Lord Darnley, sent by Elizabeth who in the end couldn't bear the loss of Dudley. Darnley was raised a Catholic but his halo slipped as early as their wedding night, and his subsequent heavy drinking further diminished his credibility. He was also a co-conspirator, and participant, in the killing of Mary's private secretary, David Rizzio. So when Darnley was murdered some months after the birth of Mary's son, James, suspicion fell on Mary's protector, the Earl of Bothwell, and on Mary herself. Forced by Court to marry a Scotsman, Mary reluctantly weds Bothwell, but this only provides ammunition to John Knox who preaches against her as a husband killer, and a harlot for then marrying the man who many accused of killing her husband.
Mary is forced to abdicate to England leaving her son behind. Elizabeth offers her protection during the meeting that is said to be historically inaccurate. But Mary's only wish was to regain her throne and claim her rightful place on the throne of England, accusing Elizabeth of being her inferior. As you can imagine, the meeting doesn't end well. At this point the film doesn't really fill in the shenanigans that eventually lead to Mary's ultimate fate, probably because it would need a sequel to do that justice. But instead we return in fairly short measure to the opening scene of the film, with Mary approaching the executioner and shedding her outer garment to reveal a blood-red dress.
This film if anything should inspire you to find out more about events that shaped British history during this period, as well as portraying the shrewdness of Elizabeth as she navigates through a sea of power-hungry lords who in many cases don't have her best interests at heart. And we see the angst that she experiences as she condemns Mary, an act I'm sure she would not have wished to carry out. "You kill your sister"
Mary immediately upsets the apple cart in Scotland, where her half-brother, Lord Moray, was enjoying the power role. Her Catholic beliefs were not welcomed, nor were her ideas of religious equality among her subjects. This was especially true in the case of the Protestant reformer John Knox, played by a well-disguised David Tennant. And she had no time for him, expelling him from Court. This inevitably led to him preaching against her.
Meanwhile Elizabeth is being warned of Mary's claim to the English throne and seeks to nullify this risk by sending her close confident, and lover, Robert Dudley to propose marriage to Mary, hoping to negate her claim. But Mary was having nothing to do with that idea, but was eventually won over by Lord Darnley, sent by Elizabeth who in the end couldn't bear the loss of Dudley. Darnley was raised a Catholic but his halo slipped as early as their wedding night, and his subsequent heavy drinking further diminished his credibility. He was also a co-conspirator, and participant, in the killing of Mary's private secretary, David Rizzio. So when Darnley was murdered some months after the birth of Mary's son, James, suspicion fell on Mary's protector, the Earl of Bothwell, and on Mary herself. Forced by Court to marry a Scotsman, Mary reluctantly weds Bothwell, but this only provides ammunition to John Knox who preaches against her as a husband killer, and a harlot for then marrying the man who many accused of killing her husband.
Mary is forced to abdicate to England leaving her son behind. Elizabeth offers her protection during the meeting that is said to be historically inaccurate. But Mary's only wish was to regain her throne and claim her rightful place on the throne of England, accusing Elizabeth of being her inferior. As you can imagine, the meeting doesn't end well. At this point the film doesn't really fill in the shenanigans that eventually lead to Mary's ultimate fate, probably because it would need a sequel to do that justice. But instead we return in fairly short measure to the opening scene of the film, with Mary approaching the executioner and shedding her outer garment to reveal a blood-red dress.
This film if anything should inspire you to find out more about events that shaped British history during this period, as well as portraying the shrewdness of Elizabeth as she navigates through a sea of power-hungry lords who in many cases don't have her best interests at heart. And we see the angst that she experiences as she condemns Mary, an act I'm sure she would not have wished to carry out. "You kill your sister"