29th November, 2007

DAVID ADAMS

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (M)

In A Word: Splendid

ROYAL PROCESSION: Geoffrey Rush (Walsingham), Abbie Cornish (Bess Throckmorton) and Cate Blanchett (Queen Elizabeth I) hit the streets.  PICTURE: Laurie Sparham Copyright: © 2006 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED "It’s a delightfully extravagant romp that puts a fresh face on one of English history’s most intriguing characters and breathes new life into what was a tumultuous period."

Being a queen in sixteenth century England was no easy job. Having kept your head and survived childhood, the fact you needed an heir, not to mention the subject of your fertility was likely to be a constant cause for chatter. And that’s before you find yourself facing a vast invasion fleet sent by the King of Spain. Doom looms at every turn.

So it was for Elizabeth I, in part two of the story that began with the movie of the same name. Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a splendidly rendered, yet intimate, depiction of life in the Elizabethan court.

This movie is painted with small strokes - while it’s action takes place against the broader backdrop of the infamous Babington plot against the Queen and the subsequent trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, the New World discoveries of Sir Walter Raleigh and the attempted invasion of the Spanish Armada, director Shekhar Kapur rarely moves the camera far from Elizabeth herself and those who most closely surround her.

The story picks up where Elizabeth left off but while the Queen is now well settled upon her throne, the wolves continue to circle. Alternating between her stern public persona and her softer, private side, we follow Elizabeth’s life as she sees off her enemies and continues to struggle with the reality of being the ‘Virgin Queen’.

Cate Blanchett does a superb job in reprising her role as the queen and is supported by a strong cast including Geoffrey Rush, who once again plays the machiavellian Sir Frances Walsingham to aplomb, Clive Owen, who plays the dashing Raleigh, and Abbie Cornish, who takes on the part of Elizabeth’s favoured lady-in-waiting Bess Throckmorton.

The costuming is splendid - though this adds, rather than detracts, from the story - and while much of the action takes place within the walls of Queen’s palaces, we do catch some glimpses of the broader Elizabethan world (including scenes of the great armada itself recreated, thanks in part, to the art of computer animation).

There are historical inaccuracies but this is not a serious historical study. Instead, it’s a delightfully extravagant romp that puts a fresh face on one of English history’s most intriguing characters and breathes new life into what was a tumultuous period.

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