Elizabeth **** (1998, Cate Blanchett, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush) – Classic Movie Review 1310

Director Shekhar Kapur’s splendid 1998 historical thriller stars Cate Blanchett, ageing and maturing convincingly through a long reign in a scaldingly exciting performance as the steely Queen Elizabeth I, crowned Queen at 25. Winning the Bafta for Best British Film in 1999, the movie tells of her ascension to the throne and early years of her reign.

The Virgin Queen inherits the troubled throne from her Catholic half-sister Queen Mary I (Kathy Burke) in 1558, and tries to reunite Britain’s warring factions while battling off the French, the Spanish and even death squads sanctioned by the Vatican. The script details the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred she encounters and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.

Written by Michael Hirst, it is a thrilling, highly emotional telling of this key period in English history, filmed by Kapur in a dark and dangerous style exactly reflecting the times. With marvellous production designs by John Myhre, the movie is extremely sumptuous visually (cinematography by Remi Adefarasin) and to the ear (score by David Hirschfelder).

It packs in a slew of fine performances, especially from Joseph Fiennes as the Queen’s favourite, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, Geoffrey Rush as a dark conspirator, the spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, Richard Attenborough as her advisor Sir William Cecil and Christopher Ecclestone as the powerful and threatening Duke of Norfolk. All of these performances are extra special.

It won the Oscar for Best Makeup for Jenny Shircore, and there were six other nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress. The 1999 Oscars were was the only year that two performers were nominated for Academy Awards for playing the same character. Judi Dench was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (and won) for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, which also starred Fiennes. Blanchett won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

John Gielgud (as The Pope), Vincent Cassel, Fanny Ardant, Eric Cantona, Edward Hardwicke, Terence Ribgy, James Frain, Emily Mortimer, Kelly Macdonald, Wayne Sleep, Lily Allen, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Matthew Rhys, Daisy Bevan, Daniel Craig and director Shekhar Kapur are also in the cast. A very solid sequel followed in 2007 when Blanchett and Rush reprised their roles in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, covering the later part of her reign.

Costing $30million, Elizabeth grossed $30million in the United States and Canada, and a total of over $82million worldwide.

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(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1310

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This portrait The Coronation of Elizabeth was used as the basis for the photography and Cate Blanchett’s costume in the film‘s coronation scene. This copy of a now lost original is attributed to Nicholas Hilliard.