CMFH Film Reviews

2007, UK/France
Adventure, Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Romance, War
Review by Deborah Dearth

REPRINTED FROM THE DESERT SUN:

Queens need love like everyone else, but when you declare yourself the Virgin Queen, adoration is an uphill battle.

In Shekhar Kapur’s sequel to Cate Blanchett’s breakthrough titular role, Queen Elizabeth I is older, wiser and a bit needier of attention in 1585. With Britain’s obsession to find the perfect political match to wed their queen, she fights the rumors that she is infertile and thus unable to create an heir not to mention incapable of receiving the necessary physical love. Elizabeth questions how much power influences her seductive charms.

In the 1998 film, Elizabeth’s naïveté was understandable. Kept at great distance from her Catholic half-sister on the throne, the Protestant princess was crowned at 25 and nervously made her way into the political arena. This film finds Her Majesty at 52, well in command of the court but childishly scatterbrained in personal matters.

Bored with her international suitors, the brash but well-spoken sailor, Walter Raleigh, catches her eye. Unlike the searing passion portrayed by Joseph Fiennes as Elizabeth’s first love, there is no chemistry between her and Clive Owen’s New World surveyor. She is captivated by his tales of adventure, but there is no mistaking that his interests fall elsewhere.

Grand moments are highlighted through the score and not the acting. Scenes of rousing emotion are forced through the orchestra while the words land flatly. Though the cast is capable, the story has been broken into digestible bites. History is ripe for interpretation, but this film is swallowed by conspiracies and random comedy.

The queen quips confident one-liners in public but crumbles into fragility behind closed doors. Though sympathy was achieved in Blanchett’s first attempt at the role, this time the persona feels uneven. The story attempts to lower the legend to common humanity through her conflictions and uncertainties, but instead the queen appears as a frazzled and unfit leader.

As Britain battles the world for global reign, her foes provide fascinating if not distracting notes in history. A maniacal King Philip II of Spain mumbles and stumbles behind the shadow of the Inquisition, hoping to overthrow Elizabeth’s Protestant rule despite her restraint towards religious persecution. Within Great Britain, Elizabeth’s cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, attempts to sneak her way onto the throne, backed by the Catholic underground. The underused but gifted Samantha Morton instills authority into each brief scene that she steals.

Sequels are a difficult task, especially when following a deservedly multi-nominated and awarded film. So much careful detail was applied to the first film that to dumb down this film for the sake of a quick laugh or stab at emotion cheats the audience. Though a decent film in its own right, Elizabeth’s glory has faded. Perhaps it is time for Mary to stand center stage.