Mary Queen of Scots (Film Review)

[selenak]

I saw Mary Queen of Scots, with Saoirse Ronan in the titular role, Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I., directed by Josie Rourke. My emotional reaction to this was roughly "Hang on, this isn't as bad as I thought it might be after the trailer...this is actually good...no, wait... ah yes. I can see now why the reviews made me not watch it in the cinema,

Comments

[kathyh]

I've loved Saoirse Ronan in every film I've seen her in but I think I'll give this one a miss. A faultless Mary makes my teeth grind and I presume the film doesn't show her as the inveterate plotter she really was.

if you cast Gemma Chan as Bess of Hardwick, why on earth don't you give her anything to do in the role but silently observe Elizabeth?

I don't think it would have fitted the narrative to have shown Mary as the houseguest from hell :) I read a biography of Bess of Hardwick reasonably recently and was very amused to discover that the Earl of Leicester attempted to act as a marriage guidance counsellor when Bess and the Earl of Shrewsbury's marriage broke down, at least partly due to Mary, Queen of Scots. He's not the first person I would have picked for that role :)

[selenak]

The opening and closing scenes (featuring Mary's execution) aside, the movie only shows her in Scotland and then just after crossing the English border and fictionally meeting Elizabeth), so it doesn't have to show her plotting. :)

LOL about Leicester, marriage guidance councellor. Then again, ever since I learned Yoko Ono actually did ask Paul McCartney to play out a RL "She loves you" with John during Lennon's "Lost Weekend" (i.e. tell him he should apologize to her and return), nothing in this regard surprises me anymore.