Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: A look at the first year of Elizabeth I's reign.
Biased, pithy comments: There were a few moments in this film when I thought I was watching Tarantino; an example of one is when the priest is walking in slow motion with thudding bass line behind him. SHAFT! I wanted to shout. This sort of music-video fantasy with thousands of cuts suffuses the movie with a modern feel, despite being pretty much the definition of a costume drama. Director Kapur has a mostly Bollywood resume, but he seems quite at home in the elaborate sets and costumage, as well as with English-speaking actors. Blanchett is great, Fiennes is great, Eccleston is great---oh, heck, everyone was quite good. Unfortunately (for me, anyhow) they take some liberties with the material, including some sort of goofy "my lover or my throne" stuff in the middle that struck me as anachronistic---for Elizabeth, it was literally the throne or her head on a pike, lovers be damned. (She also continued to court potential husbands until well into her 50s.) I guess I'm quibbling, though; it was a good movie that could have easily been stretched out into miniseries or even full series length. Elizabeth was one heck of a lady, and her life story makes for great entertainment.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Georffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough.
Directed by: Shekhar Kapur