The Golden Age

I like better the first Elizabeth movie because the plot is much stronger: how her own sister tries to get rid of her, her love to Robert Dudley, and the people in court and Rome who try to assassinate her. Born as a true heiress to the English throne, Elizabeth's position changed to the worst after Henry VIII condemned her mother to death as a traitor. After the death of Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart had more right to sit on the throne of England instead of Elizabeth. In this Elizabeth: The Golden Age, we see the end of Mary Stuart and the relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh. I wished they could add more plots into the story, like presenting Robert Dudley again. In the end of Elizabeth, he isn't executed, so why not? In Elizabeth miniseries with Helen Mirren, Dudley is on the beach, waiting for the Spanish Armada to land. He is her closest friend, closer than Walsingham.


The movie is set in 1585, where Christians and Catholics are enemies. Philip II of Spain wants to get rid of Elizabeth and he communicates with Mary Stuart, who is in her exile in England, to plot together. I have an impression that Mary Stuart was a gentle lady, and although perhaps she was very religious and thought that all non Catholics were heretics, she didn't hate her cousin. Samantha Morton's Mary Stuart here has a temper. In Scotland, although she was The Queen, she was a minority and I think a minority knows better how to tolerate. However it seems that in a movie where Elizabeth is the heroine, Mary is a bad person; and vice versa. Mary's execution gives Philip the excuse to attack England. Although England's army is outnumbered, with the fire-ships tactic (amazingly depicted in the movie), the Spanish Armada can be beaten. The second story is about her relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh, an explorer who has discovered a New World. He even brings some American natives as a proof. Sir Walter ends up marrying one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting and becomes a hero in the war versus Spain.


It's nice to see Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush playing the same roles again. Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) has better scene of Mary Stuart's execution, in my opinion. In The Golden Age, the removal of the black cloak is too slow, so when we see the red dress, it isn't very breathtaking. However, the costumes, cinematography, production design, and set decoration look better than the first Elizabeth.

I also wonder why this movie is called The Golden Age, for Elizabeth still has to face betrayal from Mary Stuart and the attack from Philip II of Spain. I think 'golden age' is when there is peace in the land and the people are wealthy, and that is only mentioned at the very end of the movie as an epilogue.