Saw Elizabeth: The Golden Age last night. Fan-TAS-tic. What a treat it always is to watch a movie that respects your intelligence, and assumes you don't need a car chase every five minutes to hold your interest.
They might just as well send the Best Actress Oscar over to Cate Blanchett's house right now. I can't see anybody giving a better performance. The real Queen Elizabeth I was mecurial, vain, flirtatious, witty, generous, devoted, arrogant, beautiful, frail, politically savvy, gracious--on and on, a mass of grand contradictions, using what aspect of her personality she needed at the moment to accomplish what needed to be done. And Blanchett captured that personality dead on.
There are swirling, poetic images throughout the movie. The image of Elizabeth in her night-clothes standing on the cliffs of Dover watching the vast Spanish Armada burning in the dusky, distant English Channel is one I will never forget. And Cate Blanchett is surrounded by a terrific cast; Geoffrey Rush as Sir Francis Walsingham, her chief spymaster; Jordi Molla as Philip II of Spain; Samantha Morton as Mary, Queen of Scots; Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh.
The movie was one of the most determinedly accurate historical epics I've ever seen. Yes, there's always going to be a certain amount of telescoping events for dramatic effect, but by God, the filmmakers got so much right!
One of my favorite little scenes involves Dr. John Dee, Elizabeth's astrologer. Dee figures prominently, though not explicitly, in the book I'm working on, so it was cool to see him in the movie. The actor playing him, David Threlfall, looked exactly like John Dee. Spooky.
John DeeGo see the movie immediately. And the title of this post is one of my favorite lines from the film, but I won't explain it.
1 comment:
Sounds like a must-see. Elizabeth was one interesting ruler. And what a fascinating time period!
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