Elizabeth As Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett has a fierceness about her, an intensity that won't quit. She's intense even when she's supposed to be at ease, for instance, when she's a virgin being romanced by Joseph Fiennes. But from the first frames of Shekhar Kapur's fascinating, sometimes irreverent film, which show Protestants being publicly burned in 1554 England, it's clear that Elizabeth can never really be at ease. Like the protagonist of Kapur's previous film, The Bandit Queen , she is a potent and passionate heroine, made stubborn and righteous by circumstances.
Catholics are the chief meanies here, though most everyone is disloyal or corrupt at some point.
But the production is alarmingly grand, from sets and costumes to camera work and performances, especially by Christopher Eccleston as the Duke of Norfolk and Geoffrey Rush as the queen's most evil and effective adviser. All rights reserved.