Overrated, fictional

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2004)

Why do filmmakers take such care to reproduce locations and costumes and then completely distort the truth? So many things are incorrect in this movie. This is such a pity because the real story of Elizabeth's rise to power is much more compelling. Make no mistake, Elizabeth understood realpolitik from childhood, she did not have to learn on the job. Sometimes it is more stupid than inaccurate. There is no way English courtiers would argue with their monarch in front of the French Ambassador. I would be prepared to forgive some of this, if the movie were not so long and confused but after two hours I really was not sure when it would end. The main saving grace is the performance of Geoffrey Rush as the scheming Walsingham.
Read a history book instead.