Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
This is at least the third film on the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth, but oddly I have never seen the more celebrated 1971 film starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson (I have that near the top of my Netflix queue). I have to believe it was better than this one, which makes this 2018 film totally unnecessary and waste of talent.
Mary and Elizabeth were first cousins, both grandchildren of Henry VII. Elizabeth was the second of Henry VIII's children (the daughter of Anne Boleyn) but didn't become queen until her brother Edward and her sister Mary died. Mary was the daughter of James V, the king of Scotland, but since Catholics were not allowed to serve as sovereign of England she was denied. She grew up in France, married the man who would become King of France, but he died young and she was widowed at sixteen. She returned to Scotland to put in her claim to the throne.
Elizabeth was spooked by her because she did sort of have a claim (since she was the offspring of Henry's second wife, Catholics claimed she was an illegitimate birth) and she was unmarried and without an heir. Eventually she would have Mary arrested and then executed on trumped up charges of plotting Elizabeth's assassination. If there is an afterlife, Mary got the last laugh, because Elizabeth, known as the Virgin Queen, left no natural heir, and Mary's son James became king of both England and Scotland.
Okay, now to the film. All of that stuff is there, but there's more, including a climactic meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. This never happened--the two never met. Slyly, the script has Elizabeth saying something to the effect to Mary, "If you ever speak of this meeting I will deny it." There's also a scene in which Lord Darnley, Mary's second husband and father to James, charms Mary with cunnilingus. I hasten to add that must be conjecture. It also Darnley fooling around with the other man thought to be James' father, David Rizzi.
What drags this film down is its somber, leaden tone. Much of it is in the dark, as one would expect in an era before electric lights, and Scotland is not known for its sunshine, but much of it is has a depressing look. The participants in the film are claiming this is a movie about power held by women--these two were queens, but they didn't have all the power--they needed the approval of men (Elizabeth relied on Cecil, played well here by Guy Pearce, and Mary by her brother James, played by James McArdle).
In most films about Elizabeth she is portrayed as young and strong (Cate Blanchett, Glenda Jackson), or old and feisty (Judi Dench). But here she is completely unsure of herself. Robbie is very good showing us the human side of the woman. She is constantly being pestered to marry and propagate, but she does not (many historians agree she was in some kind of a relationship with Robert Dudley, played here by Joe Alwyn). She wears white makeup because of the small pox scars on her face.
Ronan, on the other hand, plays Mary as completely sure of herself, probably too brash by half. She's throwing her weight around the second she lands on Scottish soil, and because she's Catholic she divides the country (John Knox, a Protestant leader, denounces and preaches against her). Ronan is an accomplished performer but her Mary started to bug me, and I felt sorry for Elizabeth.
The script is fairly routine, the direction by Rourke, normally a stage director, seems uncertain, and for a while it's tough to tell apart all the men with beards. Though a few dates are put up on screen, you don't get the passage of time--the film covers 21 years, but Ronan is not made to look any older.
This version of Mary Queen of Scots is a disappointing misfire.
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