Tilda Swinton

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2006)

Tilda Swinton is brilliant in the role of the Queen of Narnia and her make-up artist and costume designer deserve Oscars at least.
She has just the right tone of seduction and unpleasantness in her dealings with Edmund and her voice and facial expression are just spot on all the time. She has by far the best role of course.
Lewis put this female figure with bare shoulders at the centre of the story and it is interesting that he tends to like seductive female characters as his villains. He lived in an all-male society and had a very ambiguous attitude towards women.
As a child (and this is the spoiler!) I was disappointed with the part of the book which was based on Christian mythology. I was impressed and saddened by Aslan's sacrifice for Edmund. This was not least because that sort of thing did not happen in children's' books very often. Then when it turns out he knew all along that deep magic would bring him back to life it seemed a cheat.
I wonder how many children locked themselves in wardrobes after watching this film! Overall a magnificent spectacle at the heart of which was Tilda Swinton's haunting performance - brilliant.