My intelligence and knowledge was insulted and disrespected.

Rating: 1/10 (16 January 1999)

Elizabeth, a film of historical dramatization, not historical fiction, appears to have been written, directed, and produced by people who have but poor knowledge and true comprehension for either their subject, Elizabeth I of England, or of the period, Renaissance Europe in the 16th Century. Even more grievous, in my view, is the makers' apparent assumption that their audience would know no better.
The film's conclusion that ER I devoted herself to the rule of England only after she had been betrayed by her lover, Essex, was both a disgusting stereotype of women (that they abandon sex and men after men behave as they will) and gross distortion through oversimplification of the immensely complex political, social, and religious on domestic and international levels that Elizabeth found herself thrust into.
In truth, ER was an adept student and observer of her father, Henry VIII, and, in that respect, a more than worthy successor to the transformation of the political map of Europe from the quasi-theocracy of the Middle Ages to secular government by sovereigns that understood that they had obligations to the land and people over whom they ruled. It is in this context that ER said "I am married to England." In so saying, she rejected the subjugation of England to either France or Spain that would have necessarily resulted from marriage to either the Duke of Anjou or the King Philipp of Spain. By rejecting an English consort, she kept herself out of the snake pit of scheming self-serving aristocrats that England had the misfortune to suffer under.
Yet, I have to believe that Elizabeth remained a vital woman. Her self-sacrifice to the land and people that were England were all the more remarkable because of the strength and vigor of her person. "Elizabeth" missed this point entirely and in so doing, dishonored one of the truly great people of world history and insulted and disserved movie audiences at the moment of embarking on a new millennium, when we need all of the insights and perspective that we can get.