Elizabeth (Spotlight Series)
by Shekhar Kapur
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DVD details
Actor: Cate Blanchett, Christopher Eccleston, Geoffrey Rush, John Gielgud, Joseph FiennesDirector: Shekhar Kapur
Brand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
Cinematographer: Remi Adefarasin
Composer: David Hirschfelder
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-18
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Elizabeth (Spotlight Series)
DVD Review: Elizabeth
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this movie and watch it over and over it is done very well and a great story.DVD Review: Some Good, Some Bad
Summary: 3 Stars
Elizabeth / B000RF7XYO
I love Tudor history, but I'm realistic enough to expect a Tudor movie to not be very historically accurate, so I went into Elizabeth with a pretty open mind, knowing that "history" and "entertainment" rarely meet in Hollywood. I'd have to say that "Elizabeth" does a fair job, but the movie definitely has its faults.
Blanchett performs wonderfully as Elizabeth and seems made for the role. I would have preferred that Elizabeth be portrayed as more composed and less nervous, which would be both historically accurate and equally entertaining to me, but I suppose that the filmmakers wanted Blanchett's nervous performance to reflect Elizabeth's inner turmoil. I'm sure it is very difficult to play a calm persona whilst conveying inner uncertainty.
Similar complaints abound for Elizabeth's indiscretion in scenes where she openly sleeps with Dudley while her ladies-in-waiting watch nearby - I would venture to guess that the whole scene is supposed to be Hollywood-shorthand for their unrequited love, but the ridiculousness of the scene is a little jarring, and I cannot understand why the directors didn't at least introduce a little more secrecy to the scene.
The scenes where Elizabeth comes into her own with gentle barbs and quiet cajoling of her parliament are beautifully handled and are wonderful to behold. Blanchett manages to convey just the right amount of humility and control, humor and iron will to make the scene convincing. Elizabeth's concerns about marriage are conveyed clearly and distinctly, as she frets over the inevitability of losing her power, should she wed. And the scenes where Elizabeth struggles with the realities of power, with the necessities of ruthlessness and aloofness, are perfectly conveyed.
I do wish, however, that the movie had employed a little more cunning and subtlety on Elizabeth's part. Historically, she managed to play several suitors on a string while she quietly built her country's defenses and earned her right to independence, yet this subtlety is not conveyed here. Regularly and loudly, she protests that she will never marry, and we see almost nothing of the Spanish suitor whose armada would fare so badly and so infamously against Elizabeth's navy. I was disappointed that none of this came across.
Overall, this is a decent movie, entertaining enough and with enough kind-of-historical merit to be pleasant to Tudor lovers. I probably wouldn't watch this movie again, though, outside of a one time rental.
Oddly, the movie information on the Amazon page lists that English subtitles are included, but the version I received from Blockbuster Online did *not* have English captions for the hard of hearing, only French and Spanish subtitles, so caveat emptor.
DVD Review: Empowering
Summary: 5 Stars
I like films about inner and outer transformations, especially when it's about a woman who has to fight to stand up for her ideals and to defend the idea that a woman too can be a ruler. The last scene where she becomes the "virgin queen" is especially haunting. In truth, a film that is empowering for women everywhere. DVD Review: A small nudge in the direction of romanticism...
Summary: 4 Stars
And Elizabeth did whisper Robert Dudley's name on her deathbed... The movie is an imaginative interpretation of the way that things could have been...
Shekhar Kapur's film explores the instabilities of her reign, and the absolute horror and terror that surrounded the early part of her royal office without neglecting her relationship with her terminally ill sister... So it's a glimpse of her girlhood into statehood, and the shedding that occurs, with the people who expended in her life along the way...
The film shows Elizabeth growing up in an incredibly unstable, tumultuous environment... But she's an absolute survivor... Someone who has got no solid ground on which she walks... So one minute she's a bastard, the next minute she's a princess, then one moment she's an illegitimate daughter, then she's a queen... And it's a very relevant period of her life, because she was 25 when she became a female monarch...
There are four men in Elizabeth's life and all have quite different influences on what it means for a young woman to run the country so young, given that she comes to the throne under very difficult political circumstances...
There's Sir Cecil (Attenborough) who's from an older regime giving her the traditions and the conventions that are the most orthodox; Sir Francis (Geoffrey Rush) Elizabeth's great spy master, very astute, almost puritanical and rather dry bureaucrat; Robert Dudley (Fiennes) with whom the film suggests that she has quite a passionate, private relationship; and Norfolk (Eccleston), a major rival who doesn't regard that she is suitable to rule his England...
The motion picture succeeds in developing Elizabeth's change and, basically, locks off parts of herself, and dehumanizes herself in order to wield her power among men...
DVD Review: Elizabeth
Summary: 1 Stars
It has been about 4 days since I have seen the movie and can't remember that much about this one. I guess that tells how much I liked the movie. It was ok and the special effects were ok as well. I would however recommend Elizabeth: The Golden Age over this one anytime. I still would recommend buying the cheapest version of either movie since I don't think you will remember either one for a long time. I did give the Golden Age higher marks as it did have a better storyline.
Description of Elizabeth (Spotlight Series)
Academy Award-winners Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough lead a distinguished cast in Elizabeth - the critically acclaimed epic of the Queen's turbulent and treacherous rise to power! Before the Golden Age, Elizabeth was a passionate and na?ve girl who came to reign over a land divided by bloody turmoil. Amidst palace intrigues and attempted assassinations, the young Queen is forced to become a cunning strategist while weighing the counsel of her mysterious advisors, thwarting her devious rivals, and denying her own desires for the good of her country. Relive the majesty and drama of one of history's greatest monarchs in this stunning production that was honored with 7 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture!One of the big Elizabethan-era films of 1998, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth serves up a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war. England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear--that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her death--is realized. Still, the late Queen Mary has her loyalists. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers (including Sir William Cecil, superbly played by Richard Attenborough) beg her to marry any one of her would-be suitors to stabilize England's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) is married, however, and shows he cannot stand up to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth strikes against her enemies before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails rejecting love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen.
Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the naive and vibrant princess who becomes the stubborn and knowing queen is both severe and sympathetic. Her ethereal, pale beauty is equal parts fire and ice, her delivery of such lines as "There will be only one mistress here and no master!" expressed with command rather than hysterics. As striking as Blanchett's performance is the film's lavish and dramatic production design. The cold, dark sets paired with the lush costuming show the golden age of England's monarchy emerging from the Middle Ages. Rich velvet brushes over the dank stones while power is achieved at any price, and with such attention to physical detail, Elizabeth fully immerses you into its compelling chronicle of pioneering feminism and revisionist history. --Shannon Gee
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