Mary, Queen of Scots (2018, Dir. Josie Rourke)
The Summary: A re-imagining of the relationship between Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I as the two women fight for their kingdoms and deal with the manipulations of the men that surround them.
The Good: Excellent performances from its two stars. Interesting recontextualization of the relationship between the two women (lack of historical evidence notwithstanding).
The Bad: I wasn’t a big fan of the heavily desaturated cinematography (although I get that it’s a deliberate choice). Having a little bit of historical background on these events makes some of the less historical elements strain credibility somewhat.
The Review: In general, I approve of the literary repurposing of history in order to tell an interesting story. I am not a stickler for period-accurate detail when it comes to plot or characterization. I am much more interested in a good story, well-told, regardless of how much the facts must be stretched in order to facilitate the narrative. Mary, Queen of Scots is an excellent example of this kind of story. While it could generously be called a reimagining, the story takes quite a few liberties with what is generally agreed upon in the history books. This isn’t really a problem for the movie, though (unless you happen to be a particularly stiff-necked Elizabethan history buff). The key here is to have characters that the audience believes in and cares about, and the central performances provide that and more. The fascinating representations of the two monarchs are convincingly real enough that any historical quibbles won’t really get in the way for the average viewer (myself included).
The movie wears its intent rather on its sleeve from the beginning: this is a movie about strong women attempting to survive in a world that is dominated by men. The movie gets a lot of mileage out of contrasting the two queens and their respective situations in really interesting ways. At the outset, Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie) is already a respected and established monarch with a trusted retinue of councilors and advisers, while Mary (Saoirse Ronan) is distrusted as a Papist upon her return to her native country, beset on all sides by men who would love to see her fail. Her shifty Protestant brother James and the leader of the Anglican Church John Knox (a nearly unrecognizable David Tennant buried under about five pounds of beard and head hair) make for a homecoming that is fraught at best and potentially deadly at worse. The way the young queen navigates this perilous environment and how her elder cousin Queen in the South navigates this threat to her legitimacy form the backbone of the movie. Both of them have to deal with the power and demands of men, although in very different ways. The movie definitely has a kind of agenda to push by attempting to make the queens kindred spirits, but it’s well-executed and not particularly distracting, as they did both have significant trials to face.
I am less enamored of a subplot characterizing Elizabeth as jealous of Mary’s fertility. Not only is there no real historic basis for this that I am aware of, but I also think it detracts from the strengths of Elizabeth as a character. I would have preferred their rivalry remained at a political level rather than a biological one. Other than that, though, the movie rarely puts a foot wrong. Much of it is filmed in what I (rather uncharitably) think of as “Game of Thrones” visuals, with the chilly blues and widespread desaturation that series has made famous in the world of fantasy, but other than that I have nothing to complain about visually. While there is certainly nothing as resplendent as the poster pictured above, the movie is crisply and efficiently shot.
Other than that, there isn’t much else to say. The film is held up by a surprisingly solid supporting cast of character actors, most of whom eventually end up becoming obstacles for one or another of the queens, and the whole film ends with an interesting perspective on Mary’s eventual historical confinement at her cousin’s hands. The movie remains engaging throughout, and provides a new and thought-provoking perspective on how the history might have gone. The film doesn’t really do anything to elevate itself significantly above being an interesting curiosity, but it doesn’t have to. I think it really wants to be the thinking person’s period drama, but I’m not really sure that it quite gets there. The movie has a unique voice, but I don’t think it operates on as many levels as it wants to. It is, however, an engaging way to spend a couple of hours with two incredibly charismatic actresses portraying some of the strongest women in Western History, and that’s enough for a recommendation from me. I don’t think anyone will walk away from this movie bored or disappointed, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights that it sets out for.
The Score: 