SCOTS AND ENGLISH INTRIGUE CAPTURED ON FILM
Posted December 16th, 2018 at 10:56 amNo Comments Yet
IN REVIEW
EXPERIENCED STAGE DIRECTOR CREATES COMPELLING COSTUME DRAMA BIOPIC
By PETER THOMAS BUSCH
Mary Stuart returns from France to reclaim the Crown in Scotland that was held by her regent in Mary, Queen of Scots (2018).
Director Josie Rourke makes her feature film debut with the biopic period piece set in 1561.
Rourke weaves the leading narrative of Mary, Queen of Scots, played by Saoirse Ronan, with the supporting narrative of Elizabeth I of England, played by Margot Robbie.
The intertwined narratives gradually unravel when Mary and Elizabeth finally meet near the end of the film.
Rourke’s stagework experience as the Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse shows through in the film with the script outlining the intrigue of royal courts and the machinations of powerful real life characters ever plotting to ruin the careers of more moral people.
The strong supporting role played by Robbie is reflective of her Oscar nomination for the leading role as American Olympic figure skater, Tonya Harding. Harding becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to injure her nearest rival, US figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, prior to the commencement of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games in I,Tonya (2017).
Robbie is fitted with a prosthetic nose for her supporting role as Elizabeth. Robbie also goes through several realistic make up transformations over a number of interspersed scenes as she portrays the English Queen recovering from a severe bought of smallpox that scars her face.
Make-up artist Jenny Shicore and costume designer Alexandra Byrne collaborate again after having worked on the period films, Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).
Shicore won an Oscar for the make-up work in Elizabeth. Shicore also worked on The Young Victoria (2009), My Week with Marilyn (2011) and Macbeth (2015).
Byrne won an Oscar for the costume work in Elizabeth. Byrne’s other costume work includes Avengers(2012), Doctor Strange (2016) and Mowgli (2018).
Rourke instills further realism by lighting the sets in a manner that portrays the ambience of castles as they would have been at the time before electricity, with candles and fire lighting the floor level, and natural light streaming down into the rooms from overhead windows.
The time issues are dealt with except at the end of the intertwined narratives when the film time jumps from Mary being placed under guard in England to her eventual execution 18 years later as Rourke completes a wrap around.
The script follows the monarch through the delicate transition in reclaiming her power in Scotland and pressuring Elizabeth for respect and sovereignty.
Elizabeth is without a husband and without a child, and so the Queen of Scotland and her eventual heir would be able to unite the two Crowns, as did eventually occur, with Mary’s son, James, uniting the kingdom.
The film could have included scenes of Mary’s life of confinement to make more of a seamless transition from the time of her abdication in Scotland to the time of her death in England.
Rourke does excel at compelling the narrative forward by alternating scenes between the court of Elizabeth I to that of Mary, Queen of Scots, and also from inside the dark lit castles to the bright stunning vistas of the Scottish Highlands.
The film does lack a bit of suspense. The story line, based on well known biopic material, relies on the not so well known details to compel audiences.
Rourke uses an original score in the background of many scenes, but the music is not synced with the acting nor does the score create suspense, even in the short battle scenes.
As with many period pieces the film slowly focuses on the costumes, make up and hair styles,and of course the acting.
Ronan realistically plays the teenage Queen as she makes mistakes through inexperience,becomes manipulated by the more experienced plotting Lords advising her, and ultimately realizes the path to her downfall all too late.
Ronan has received three Oscar nominations: one for her supporting role in Atonement (2007),at the age of 13, and one for her leading role in Brooklyn (2015) and a third for her leading role in Lady Bird (2017).
Ronan is able to transform from the private school teenage she played in Lady Bird to the determined authoritarian figure in Mary, Queen of Scots.
The talented actor portrays inexperience, authoritarianism, jealousy and vengeance as well as helplessness as the widowed Queen of France becomes the Queen of Scotland and then is eventually deposed to become an outlaw in Scotland and England until her execution.
A similar acting range is performed in Lady Bird, as Ronan realistically portrays a young girl struggling with her new maturity through defiant behavioural outbursts directed toward her parents, her private Catholic school teachers and her boyfriend.
The teenage insecurities growing up in boring Sacramento are shed for the confidence of a monarch with the divine right to rule the beautiful Scotland.
Rourke also develops tolerance issues, including the discriminatory treatment of a bisexual court jester and the gender bias of male Lords determined to dominate the female monarchs.