Masterpiece Theatre: Elizabeth I - The Virgin Queen
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Actor: Anne-Marie Duff, Dexter Fletcher, Robert Pugh, Sienna Guillory, Tara FitzgeraldBrand: Wgbh Wholesale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 230 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-28
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: PBS
DVD Reviews of Masterpiece Theatre: Elizabeth I - The Virgin Queen
DVD Review: A watery, passive, poorly cast, revisionist production
Summary: 2 Stars
Filming the story of Gloriana is a virtual guarantee of success for a production studio, from Warner Brothers to BBC. The Virgin Queen still retains her power to enthrall, intrigue and mystify these 500 years after she came to the throne. She was perhaps England's last true absolute monarch, and certainly one of its greatest, if not most famous.
Since the advent of film, she has been one of the most coveted roles to play. Indeed, few monarchs have been so closely chronicled, save perhaps her own father, Henry VIII, and Victoria.
She has been portrayed by some of the most brilliant actresses: Sarah Bernhardt, Bette Davis, Judi Dench, Judith Anderson, Miranda Richardson, Flora Robson, Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, even Quentin Crisp, and most famously, and importantly, Glenda Jackson.
And it must be said without doubt that Glenda Jackson's "Elizabeth R" is the defining portrait-- the most accomplished, historically accurate, and masterfully acted. Glenda Jackson is Elizabeth I reincarnate; there is simply none better, and likely never will be.
So now we have Anne-Marie Duff in the red wig for 230 Masterpiece Theatre minutes. Perhaps for the sake of revisionists, we are offered a far less imperious monarch, one who is both reactive (the real one was) and passive (the real one was not). Duff is an odd choice. No beauty like Cate Blanchett, but Elizabeth was known for vanity, not beauty. Duff's Elizabeth, with quivering lip and watercolor behavior, seems filmed underwater, and make for an undesirable monarch-- certainly not the Gloriana of myth or fact. Where is her famous wit, her coy manipulations, her strong moral fiber, her intense devotion to state and loyal courtiers? Left with Glenda Jackson, I suppose. This Elizabeth is a simpering, love-struck maiden or a crass, 60-something hag (and only then do we see bits of fire in the performance). Hag works; crass manages; simpering loses the whole impact.
A suavely elegant, very attractive and distinctly healthy Queen Mary I opens Elizabeth's story (no Catharine Parr, no Thomas Seymour, no childhood) but is quickly dispatched. Just as well, for she's thoroughly ill-cast--Mary was none of those things. (Far better was the wonderful Kathy Burke in the Blanchett version, though she was a bit of a Protestant caricature). Daphne Slater in the Jackson series was far more appealing, and perfectly written.
Elizabeth's transition from prisoner to crown is possibly the greatest story of her long life. No part of her history defines and creates her personality more than these years-- the abuse by Seymour, imprisonment, exile, and finally her accession. Unfortunately, much of this key period is sped through. The fatal flaw in the series is the decision to cast Elizabeth mooning incessantly over Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leicester, here played by a childish, petulant Tom Hardy. There is no chemistry here; he is pretty, but vacant. Glenda Jackson's Dudley, Robert Hardy (no relation that I know of), is a bit of a fop, but he knows his place in court and Elizabeth's heart. Their chemistry is clear. This version of Dudley is a bit ridiculous-- how he would claim the Queen's heart for more than 30 years is a mystery in this performance. So is most of the casting (what's with the acrobat?)
An egregious error in this production is the portrayal of suicide by Dudley's long-suffering wife Amy Robsart, whose death at 26 in 1560 remains to this day a mystery. More time should have been spent on the wooing of Elizabeth by the French Duc d'Alencon, who very nearly came to be her husband (again, the 1971 Glenda Jackson version handles this segment masterfully).
All too soon and without sufficient explanation, we become immersed in the historically key, decades-long battle of wills and imprisonment of the impetuous Mary, Queen of Scots-- Elizabeth's 2nd cousin, granddaughter of Henry VIII's older sister Margaret, whose claim to the English throne made her a rallying point of Catholics, and a very real threat to Elizabeth (it was Mary's son James who succeeded Elizabeth in 1603, founding the ill-fated House of Stuart).
Far more attention should have been paid to the case for and subsequent execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, which was Elizabeth's darkest hour-- forever bloodying her saintly propaganda. Likewise, more attention should have been given to Walshingham, Elizabeth's master of subversion, although William Cecil, Lord Burghley, is given fair due.
The decisive Armada happens much too quickly, lessening its impact and giving far too much time to be spent on the stormy relationship of Elizabeth and Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, portrayed by Hans Matheson, who is cast and directed as a bad-tempered, bipolar "Mama's Boy" (a very strange Oedipal twist here) whose hair, look and even attire speak far more to 2005 than 1585. The entire second half of the production is brought down by this admittedly strange relationship, here given a basketful of psychological issues left to the viewer to consider unraveling. The casting is awful, the acting mediocre, the personality baffling. This Essex is a wreck-- blame the revisionist director.
Two significant annoyances: Elizabeth's (Duff's) accent isn't simply London middle-class, which would be fine, but stands in stark contrast to everyone else's appropriate English diction and clarity. She comes off as a guttersnipe. And worse of all-- distracting to the utmost-- is the incessant soundtrack that dominates--and not pleasantly-- the action and plot of the movie. The sheer volume of it is horrendous, to say nothing of the attempts at mixing courtly historical period music with Essex's electric guitar.
My suggestion here is to rent this one, watch it as long as you can, and then return to Davis, Blanchett, Jackson, or even Dench. Overall, a disappointment. Were it not for 95% historical accuracy and enjoyable period costumes-- plus the decent acting (most of the problems are the director's fault, don't blame the actors), it would have earned one star. But this Queen is no legend, and this cast is horrendous. An inglorious Gloriana.
Description of Masterpiece Theatre: Elizabeth I - The Virgin Queen
As The Virgin Queen begins, a young Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London by Queen Mary, charged with conspiracy and treason. Both women are daughters of the ruthless and oft-married Henry VIII, who plunged England into turmoil by breaking with the Roman Catholic Church. Mary wants to reunite with Rome, while Elizabeth is determined to stand by her Protestant faith--a potentially fatal choice. But Elizabeth?s life takes an unexpected turn when Mary dies, leaving no heir to the throne. As the new queen, Elizabeth discovers the harsh realities of ruling a religiously divided nation and must learn to outwit her enemies and charm those who conspire to their own ends.Soon under pressure to secure a politically advantageous marriage, the coquettish Elizabeth rejects a string of eligible royal bachelors from abroad, openly preferring the burning affections of her childhood playmate, the athletic, handsome--and married--Robert Dudley. But is she toying with him as she is with her other suitors?
Starring Anne-Marie Duff (The Aristocrats, The Magdalene Sisters) as the shrewd and captivating queen who defended her throne amidst an atmosphere of plotting and intrigue, torture and murder, The Virgin Queen is a riveting drama that explores the fascinating 44-year reign of Elizabeth I.
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