Mary Queen of Scots ** (2018, Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Adrian Lester, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, James McArdle, David Tennant) – Movie Review

Director Josie Rourke’s modern re-interpretation of the tragic historical story of Mary Queen of Scots is vivid and ambitious. Unfortunately, it is not a happy, feel-good story, and the film is more on the interesting side than the exciting side. It has no electricity. It could do with some old-style Hollywood pizzazz, with a bit of kitsch, a bit of camp, a bit of fun, and a lot of style. Unfortunately, it is more Holyrood than Hollywood.

The script, written by Beau Willimon (House of Cards) and based on the book Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart by John Guy, is an imaginative mix of fact and fiction, so the film is more of a dialogue-led and idea-led drama than a straight retelling of history. As this story has been told often before, a new take is welcome, even necessary.

Saoirse Ronan entirely dominates the film in the titular role of Mary Stuart, provocatively presented as a modern-day feminist and liberal. Mary Stuart is presented as a heroine rather than as the misguided, willful woman she is usually viewed. Despite her lack of a Scots accent, Ronan is a good fit for the role, producing a strong performance that is by far the best thing about the movie. Also struggling with her accent, Margot Robbie is less good as her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, but then the role is less good and there is less of it. Some of the other acting is weak.

Adrian Lester as Elizabeth’s ambassador to the Scottish court, Lord Thomas Randolph, Guy Pearce as Elizabeth’s adviser William Cecil, Joe Alwyn as Elizabeth’s favourite Robert Dudley, Jack Lowden as Henry Darnley, Ismael Cruz Cordova as David Rizzio, James McArdle as James, Earl of Moray, David Tennant as Protestant leader John Knox and Gemma Chan as Elizabeth’s helper Bess of Hardwick all seem to be miscast and struggling. Everybody is very downbeat and depressed, and it is a downer and depressing. Ah well, that is Elizabethan era history for you.

The screenplay has problems coping with so many characters and dealing with such a long, complex saga in just two hours, and sometimes coming up with convincing dialogue. It is all talk and virtually no action, and the talk is not particularly exciting, with the continual cutting between the English and Scottish courts troublesome as it tries to keep the two Queens in the frame. As it goes for a true life of Mary Stuart flavour, you wish it was more credible. Some most unroyal things keep happening in Scotland, and even, gasp, in the English court too.

The most interesting section of the film is the gay sub-plot involving Mary’s new husband Henry Darnley and her favoured gay courtier David Rizzio. This bit goes so well that you wish they had stuck to the intrigue, backstabbing and murder in the Stuart court at Holyrood Palace for the entire movie, junking the Elizabeth character entirely.

Mary of Scotland (1936) with Katharine Hepburn and Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) with Vanessa Redgrave are two previous famous films on the subject.

Josie Rourke is the first woman director to run a major London theatre as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, Covent Garden.

Ian Hart plays Lord Maitland, Simon Russell Beale plays Robert Beale and Martin Compston plays Lord Bothwell.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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