Beautiful, but...

Rating: 6/10 (16 October 1998)

Elizabeth traces the development of Queen Elizabeth I of England from a carefree and innocent princess fully enjoying the company of the handsome Earl of Leicester (Joseph Fiennes brother of Ralph), to a ruthless monarch who is forced to renounce her lover and bury her sexuality under the image of the `Virgin Queen.' It raises some interesting questions about women holding power in male-dominated societies and the sacrifices of personality and sexuality, involved in retaining that power. This is particularly interesting in Britain which has something of a tradition of female rulers presiding over `glorious' (I use the word advisedly) periods in its history, e.g. Elizabeth, Victoria, Margaret Thatcher, all of whom were pretty sexless.
The story of Elizabeth as a person is played out against the wider drama of the religious crisis gripping Europe as a result of the Reformation. The most horrific consequences of the conflict between Catholic and Protestant are graphically portrayed throughout the film starting right at the beginning with three Protestants agonisingly burning to death, but then we would expect nothing less from the director of Bandit Queen. Elizabeth's vain (and probably anachronistic) plea that religion shouldn't be an issue are eventually overwhelmed by the horrible realities created religious intolerance. And just as issues about women in power have contemporary echoes, so do those concerning religion.
However, despite lovely photography and some great performances (particularly from Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth and Christopher Ecclestone as Norfolk), I was slightly disappointed. Despite all the gore and periodic melodrama, this seemed a very slow paced film with a rather confusing plot  unfortunately often consequences of attempts to keep, however vaguely, to historical facts. Often, it ended up as just a series of tableaux of beautifully shot scenes in large churches, in this respect reminiscent of La Reine Margot (also a film about a queen in Renaissance Europe).
And finally for any football fans out there  Eric Cantona is surprisingly good as the French Ambassador.