Fascinating interpretation

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2000)

Warning to critics: please don't put 'historically accurate/inaccurate' and 'film' in the same sentence. They belong together like fish and bicycles (thanks to Gloria Steinem).
Elizabeth is a great costume drama and a fascinating interpretation of one of history's most admired and ambiguous figures. But please don't say the film was 'inaccurate' or 'not historically correct.' Were you there? History is rewritten the moment it first appears on the page, or is told orally. It's not relevant to film as a medium, or to storytelling in general.

I thought Cate Blanchett was inspirational and played the role like she was born to it. Her strength and ruthlessness was learned, not present at birth. She had to grow and find her way in the dangerous times she lived in. This is a version of how she may have done it. Her character is very complex and gives an insight of what it meant to be a woman in a powerful position during those times.
Costuming and cinematography are fabulous, although I wish at times they had bowed to modern lighting techniques so we could see more in those dim corridors.
Joseph Fiennes is gorgeous and just sulky enough to make you think he got what he deserved. I loved Richard Attenborough as Cecil and even Eric Cantona got it right in the right places. Good casting, solid acting and wonderful photography and a touching and thought-provoking script. What more can you ask?
One of the best.