Mary, Queen of Scots (6/10)
by Tony Medley
Runtime 125 minutes
R
There are some really good things about this film.
Written by Beau Willimon from Dr. John Guy’s acclaimed biography, “Queen
of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart,” this is a view of Mary (Saoirse
Ronan) that is eye-opening. To start off with, Ronan is pretty much a
dead ringer for one of the paintings of Mary. The resemblance is
astonishing.
Mary was the daughter of Scottish King James V, who
died six days after her birth, as a result of which she became queen.
But her mother took her to her native France where she was raised. At 16
she married the French Dauphin, who became King Francis II of France the
next year and she became Queen. Alas, he died the following year, so in
1561 she returned to Scotland at age 19 to assume her place as Queen of
Scotland. That’s where director Josie Rourke picks up the story.
But instead of telling it straight up, she tells it
by contrasting Mary with Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth was the
daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded by Henry when
Elizabeth was two years old. After Henry’s death, there was a parade of
monarchs, her half-brother Edward VI, then Lady Jane Grey (for nine
days), then her half-sister, the Catholic Mary, the daughter of
Catherine of Aragon, and, finally, Elizabeth, who became Queen in 1558
at age 25, three years before Mary returned to take the crown in
Scotland at age 19.
The film jumps back and forth between Mary and
Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) and contrasts how each handles similar
problems, dealing with men who were not enamored with women monarchs.
During this time (October 10, 1562, actually) Elizabeth contracted
smallpox and throughout the film she is shown with sores all over her
face
While Rourke shows how the odds were stacked
against Mary from the outset, it also shows her to be relatively
frivolous, lots of scenes with her cavorting with her maids. It never
shows her ruling the country, except some scenes of her on horseback
leading a few battles. I have no idea if these are true, but I doubt it.
As long as I’m doubting, the film shows Elizabeth
and Mary meeting personally, something that never happened.
While the film is agonizingly long, it is
enlightening because it opens a new vision of Mary. The acting is good
throughout and the cinematography (John Mathieson) is exceptional.
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