Cast: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Samantha Morton

Director: Shekhar Kapur

Running time: 1 hr 54 mins

Genre: Historical Drama


REVIEW:


Circa 1998, Cate Blanchett became known to the world as probably the best actress to play the role of Queen Elizabeth I of England in the much glorified ELIZABETH. One Golden Globe Best Actress award and an Oscar Best Actress nomination later, she decided to reprise the role in its second film, actually a sequel concealed beneath Shekhar Kapur’s air of no-it’s-not-a-sequel defiance. So here comes ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE – pompous, luxuriant, sweepingly epic, possibly the sumptuously richest film, costume-and-prop-wise, since Sofia Coppola’s anachronistic and punky MARIE ANTOINETTE. Yet with all the ball gowns, long swooning cloths, big wigs, gold-festooned lavishness, this second film staggers a wee bit in its storytelling, as though you just went into a history class that just crammed your brain with book-length history information in one single sitting. And probably, historians would start sending some hate mails to Kapur for some ridiculous historical inaccuracies.


However, it’s ultimately undermining if one would ignore ELIZABETH’s gorgeous cinematography. Beautifully staged and compellingly designed, this 16th century Britain never looked luscious, surreal, and breathtaking altogether before. Every scene’s palette, tone of colour, hues and shades – it all felt like it all sprung out of Rembrandt’s or Raphael’s paintings. The sequence of the British Navy versus the coalition of Spanish Armada and French fleets is not overwrought and offers what is needed, and its visuals are just marvellous. Here we see Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) in front of a massively complex backdrop around, being threatened that her empire will crumble, and at the same time, battling with her own personal war – the choice between responsibility to her nation and indulgence. Her Protestant rules comes in terms with her half-sister, Mary (Samantha Morton), Queen of Scots, England’s invalid queen, who was a Catholic, and was supported by Spain’s King Philip II. Spain’s building an Armada to defeat Britain’s naval power, and with France’s alliance, Elizabeth trembled in her knees.


Amidst the furore, of course there’s the romance bit. Dashing Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) comes into court and charms Elizabeth, but beneath her gaze, he impregnates the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Bess Throckmorton (Abbie Cornish). Both of them underestimated Elizabeth’s sharp words and her fury. She had a choice, whether to follow her heart or stand her ground for her people, which would leave her virginity intact forever.


This new ELIZABETH film doesn’t offer new ideas, and brings back the rhetoric of the first Elizabeth film, about a woman bereft of the right to be decadent and of astounding courage and responsibility. We’ve all seen it before. It also goes beyond romanticism and melodrama that it sometimes become soggy, but nevertheless saved by ELIZABETH’s saving grace herself: the acting supremacy that is Cate Blanchett. No other actress could have done this role a better job. Her return is remarkable and stunningly compelling. Her groundbreaking lash of fury “There’s a hurricane in me that will strip bare if you dare betray me!” is so wrathful, so powerfully delivered that it could sweep the whole sails of Armada under her breath of rage. Slap her come Oscar nod, it wouldn’t hurt her at all, not a single flinch. Clive Owen is understated in this one, appearing a tad shallow and a simplistic swashbuckler, and I believe there’s a better Clive Owen performance to give. Samantha Morton’s Mary is absolutely intriguing, yet unfortunately given less time appearance. She’s involved in one of the film’s heart-stopping scenes, the execution of Mary.


But after all, there’s still a delicate balance between pageantry and heavyweight drama, which the film nearly topples sideways. It’s Blanchett always on the rescue; every time she’s not on the scene, you’re craving for her presence more. Oh, and some historical inaccuracies as I’ve known some of bits of British history: Sir Walter Raleigh was never really in the British naval ships on the battle of Armada, brandishing swords and swinging from one rope to another as though has was Captain Sparrow, he was ashore that time, as he was a tactician. Blame romanticism.

VERDICT:

Seesaws between beauty pageantry and compelling historical drama, ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE more or less settles a bit weight on details and colours rather than putting something heavy on characterization. Pull out Cate Blanchett and this film will sink with the Armada itself. Gladly, it’s an entertaining, albeit historically inaccurate, and gorgeous depiction of the 16th century England.



RATING: B+