Elizabeth (1998)

The ascension to the throne of England of Queen Elizabeth I and the aftermath. Shows the against-the-odds struggles she had to endure to obtain the throne and her almost-as-difficult defence of it.Superb. Reasonably accurate, historically, and very interesting. Could easily have ended as a dry docudrama but director Shekhar Kapur ensures the film is engaging, intriguing and edifying. Allied with this is a superb performance from Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth, a performance that earned her her first Oscar nomination. Throw in some fantastic sets and costumes and this is a lavish, entertaining and edifying drama.

Plz tell, WHY make a film about historical peoples and falsify facts of their life into your own fantasy..leaving your audience mind numbed in the end? - 2 hours of emptiness. Its climax seems meant to twist the virtue of virginity into a selfish act and "the Queen's" transition of dancing young maid to virulent ruler is not smooth at all.

Elisabeth is the biography of Elisabeth the first of England who is credited often of starting the process of making Britain one of the strongest biggest and most advanced empires of the whole time, so the film had a lot to do. The final result is a well made depiction of the early days of our protagonist from a seclusive girl to the monarch of a renaissance kingdom.The idea to so the process of this transformation was a quit smart one as the majority of history buffs know what took place during her reign from the built up of the navy, to the final establishment of the English Church and the explosion of art in the Fair Isles but few have a good knowledge of the person behind all that. And the film does portrait the political game of the fifteenth century very well, with some dramatization and simplification here and there in order for the common viewer to keep track of the event ,but with out losing the essence of the story.As for the queen herself, Cate Blanchett gave a great performance of the character and she showed very well how difficult and at times heartbreaking was for her to adapt to a court divided in which who you like and who you trust doesn't always mean the same person. Also thankfully she didn't become a cry-baby during all the events of the film, rather her pain was shown much more esoteric and damaging her psychology than her in a psychical term.To the setting ,costume and personalities we have excellent to the first two and a little mixed of dramatization ,but not to a point that was more fiction than fact like some else, (Brave-heart, The Patriot, Apocalypto ).In the end a good historical film ,if you are a history buff go watch you will like it ,for the rest ,just give it a try.

after its end, the first word for define it is beautiful. a comfortable verdict . because its beauty sources are many, different, fascinating and seductive. first - the desire of Shekhar Kapur to say a different story. about a so known subject. the atmosphere . the acting - the performance of Sir John Gielgud in a small role is a good example -, the costumes, the cinematography - few memorable scenes -, the realistic transformation of a young girl in the great queen. sure, few scenes are not credible and almost fake but it is a film who has the rare gift to give the flavor of a period in the most realistic manner. sure, it is far to be a masterpiece but it is more then a good film or a seductive one. it is an open window to the respiration of a time, small map of the challenges of power's conquest and responsibilities. and, not the least, it has a precious virtue to propose a different Elizabeth. one of the most interesting.