Elizabeth Poster

Elizabeth (1998)

Biography | History 
Rayting:   7.5/10 93.5K votes
Country: UK
Language: English | French
Release date: 22 October 1998

The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.

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agm 26 October 1998

This film, posted as a "bodice ripper", was in fact tame to the point of dullness. Even worse, I felt that details of the plot and action were sometimes hopelessly absurd: for example can you imagine the Queen fornicating in view of her ladies in waiting? or a priest committing violent murder even in England of the 1550s? or that Queen Mary Tudor really was so ugly? To make a film of this sort dramatically effective, it must be convincing in its detail, and this "Elizabeth" was not.

However my major grievance is the music. We are long accustomed to lush string tone attempting to summon up the atmosphere of Olde Worlde Englande, but Walton did it so much better ("Touch her sweet lips and part" - this was real music). Here we have a pastiche of a pastiche, with all the lumbering dullness of so many bad period costume dramas of the past. For example, the "Volta" was a dance thought lascivious at the time - not a hint of this from the music here! The quotation from Elgar's "Enigma" (with a wordless female chorus - bless us) seemed hopelessly inappropriate and the pseudo-Handelian chorus at the end nearly had me falling out of my seat.

Film music CAN be good - for example, that of Prokofiev and Walton, good enough to stand alone - but so rarely is.

lulia 3 May 1999

Fmovies: I just watched Elizabeth, for the second time and once again I was ...what would be the word...moved? Not in the teary-eyed sense, but in a way that makes you want to read more about Elizabeth I.

However, I have read other comments and two things occurred to me. First, that many people (brilliant scholars or erudite people whom I respect) pretend that "it did not look that way" or " it did not happen that way", such and such. Who are you to tell? History is not an exact science, it is a HUMAN way to try and keep in touch with the events that shaped the world we live in. Being interested in history and costume history myself, nothing STRIKE me as BLATANTLY anachronistic. I think that Mr. Kapur primarily wanted to illustrate Elizabeth's rise to power, not her entire reign, which would take several films. His film is an account of an episode of English history, not a chronic on life in Tudor England, hence the lack of filth and lice, as someone mentioned... The second element is a more personal one, that in fact came to my mind while watching the film: how could Cate Blanchett lose the Oscar to Gwyneth Paltrow, of all people?! Her performance in Shakespeare in Love was charming, no less but no more. I think that trying to catch the conscience of a queen, to make an illustrious historic figure come to life is far more difficult than playing William Shakespeare's (fictitious) love interest.

It was my humble opinion, and I wanted to share it with other IMDB users.

smig1 9 December 1999

Cate Blanchett's performance was awe-inspiring and has made me a fan for life. She should have won the Oscar in 1998.

Terrific performances from the other principal actors, excellent costume/art direction and cinematography, a good script (if you can relax any standards of strict historiography you might have, if any) and well-paced direction and editing make for a terrific period piece.

I loved this movie and raved about it for weeks afterward.

PivoGirl 13 July 2000

Elizabeth fmovies. In a year overwhelmed with reminiscent films, Elizabeth rises above the rest to become one of few stunning manifestations of the Hollywood Renaissance. Certainly acknowledged by the Oscars garnering 7 nominations, Shekhar Kapur's intimate portrait of a young Elizabeth further expands the modern view on a distant monarch, whose maturing reign as well as taming nature continued to dazzle the 20th century viewers.

Presented here by a superb cast led by Golden-Globe winner Cate Blanchett, early Elizabethean era turmoil and upheaval are captured brilliantly. The lush set itself is a feast for the eye as the audience is drawn to follow a passionate young Elizabeth's path. Against the dark setting of medieval stone castles, a blooming Golden Age approaches as England expands to take control in a world of great unrest after Catholic Queen Mary's death. Her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth daughter of Anne Bolyne is placed on a throne of a kingdom torn between religion. Cate Blanchett does a fabulous job capturing the details of a frustrated young woman waking to the merciless reality of queenhood--surrounded by enemies such as Norfolk (Christopher Eccleston). Constantly by her side is her reverent adviser Sir William Cecil (Richard Attenborough) who advises Elizabeth to marry for convenience choosing from a "pool" of ready political candidates--while Elizabeth herself is long set on her lover from the past Sir Robert Dudley (a charming Joseph Fiennes). Yet just as England learns to wake up from the medieval dream, Elizabeth learns the bitterness of betrayal as she looks to Sir Francis Walsingham (Jeffrey Rush)'s counsel.

Focusing on Elizabeth's subtle changes of phase from fire to ice at a distant in the midst of a grander panorama beautifully shot, the audience gradually distinguishes her footsteps from the shedding of innocence to a tough ruler that dares to strike first against her enemies, to ultimately become the Virgin Queen to reign above all men.

CCO-3 15 December 1998

During the opening credits the camera hovers high above three people being burned at the stake, what an angle, as the fire consumes them in a maelstrom. The cineamatography was so incredibly creative, very Hitchcockian. One need not possess any knowledge of history to make sense of the plot and story. Like a good mystery there were subtle nuances. Glances between characters that foreshadowed events and interactions to come, such as the woman that betrays Norfolk, and the child that inadvertently reveals his father's hiding place. The story wasn't exactly historically accurate, but it got my 15-year-old interested in Elizabethen England. Call it artistic license. The movie was so lush, so complex that I easily saw it twice without becoming bored. Terrific acting, fabulous costumes, great staging.

gringo_loco812 11 August 2000

As the post movie text explains, Queen Elizabeth's reign is often referred to as the Golden Age for England. She helped establish the a power structure that continued for centuries after her death.

The acting may have been okay, but I couldn't get past how this movie wastes such a rich story and character. Her life was filled with grand struggles and intrigues, yet this movie spends endless scene after endless scene showing her dancing in court and fawning after Sir Robert. We are led to believe that she ascended to the throne as a simple naive girl and fortunately was transformed into a powerful queen.

Give me a break. I can't stand that kind of Hollywood crap. Her political skill and cunning were forged long before the crown was placed on her head. She didn't dance around the may pole far off in the country, oblivious to the court and politics. Her father was Henry the VIII. Portray her with the obvious metal she had from a very early age.

I had difficulty not fast forwarding through the whole movie. Fortunately, the movie gets a little better in the last 30 minutes (why I rated it a 4). Watch in on TV during the Summer sometime.

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