Elizabeth: The Golden Age
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Elizabeth: The Golden Age | |
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Jonathan Cavendish | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Remi Adefarasin |
Edited by | Jill Bilcock |
Music by | |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures (international) StudioCanal (France)[1] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 115 minutes |
Countries |
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Language |
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Budget | $55 million |
Box office | $75.8 million |
Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a 2007 biographical historical drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur and produced by Universal Pictures and Working Title Films. It stars Cate Blanchett in the title role and is a loose but fact-based portrayal of events during the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth I, forming a sequel to Kapur's 1998 film Elizabeth. The film co-stars Geoffrey Rush (reprising his role from the previous film), Clive Owen, Jordi Mollà, Abbie Cornish, and Samantha Morton. The screenplay was written by William Nicholson and Michael Hirst, and the music score was composed by Craig Armstrong and A. R. Rahman. Guy Hendrix Dyas was the film's production designer and co-visual effects supervisor, and the costumes were created by Alexandra Byrne. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios and various locations around the United Kingdom.
The film premiered on 9 September 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opened in wide release in the United States on 12 October 2007, premiered in London on 23 October 2007, and opened wide on 2 November 2007 throughout the rest of the UK and Republic of Ireland. At the 80th Academy Awards, the film won Best Costume Design and Blanchett received a nomination for Best Actress.
Plot
In 1585,
English explorer
Walsingham's Catholic brother, who knows of the plot against Elizabeth, is jailed, leading Walsingham to reveal Spain's plan to Queen Elizabeth, who angrily confronts the Spanish diplomats. The Spanish ambassador feigns ignorance, accuses her of receiving stolen Spanish gold from pirates, and insinuates that she has a sexual relationship with Raleigh. Enraged, Elizabeth throws the Spaniards out of England. Meanwhile, Philip is cutting down the forests of Spain to build the Spanish Armada to invade England. Mary writes letters condoning the plot.
Babington storms into a cathedral where Elizabeth is praying and fires a pistol at her, though Elizabeth is unharmed as there was no bullet in the gun. As Elizabeth learns of Mary's involvement in the plot, Walsingham insists Mary be executed to quell any possible revolt. Elizabeth reluctantly agrees. Mary is tried for high treason and beheaded; Walsingham realises this was part of the Jesuits' plan all along: Philip never intended for Mary to become queen, but with the Pope and other Catholic leaders regarding Mary as the true Queen of England, Philip uses Mary's death to obtain papal approval for war. The "murder" of the last legitimate Catholic claimant to the throne gives Philip the pretext he needs to invade England and remove Elizabeth, leaving the way to the English throne free for his own daughter.
Bess reveals to Raleigh that she is pregnant with his child, and pleads with him to leave. Instead, the couple marry in secret. When Elizabeth confronts Bess, she confesses her pregnancy and that Raleigh is her husband. An infuriated Elizabeth berates Bess, reminding her that she cannot marry without royal consent. She banishes Bess from court and has Raleigh imprisoned for the crime of seducing a ward of the queen.
As the Spanish Armada begins its approach up the English Channel, Elizabeth forgives Bess and sets Raleigh free to join Sir Francis Drake in battle. The ships of the Armada vastly outnumber England's, but a storm blows the Armada toward the beaches, endangering its formation and becoming vulnerable to English fire ships. Elizabeth, at her coastal headquarters, walks out to the cliffs and watches the Spanish Armada sink in flames as the English fleet prevails.
She visits Raleigh and Bess and blesses their child. Elizabeth appears to triumph personally through her ordeal, again resigned to her role as the Virgin Queen and mother to the English people.
Cast
- Queen Elizabeth I
- Sir Francis Walsingham
- Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh
- Abbie Cornish as Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton
- Samantha Morton as Mary, Queen of Scots
- King Philip II of Spain
- Susan Lynch as Annette Fleming
- Rhys Ifans as Robert Reston
- Eddie Redmayne as Anthony Babington
- Tom Hollander as Amias Paulet
- Steven Robertson as Sir Francis Throckmorton
- Adam Godley as William Walsingham
- Laurence Fox as Sir Christopher Hatton
- William Houston as Guerau de Espés
- David Threlfall as John Dee
- Christian Brassington as Charles II, Archduke of Austria
- John Shrapnel as Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
- Ursula Walsingham
- Kirstin Smith as Mary Walsingham
- Benjamin May as Dance Tutor
- Kate Fleetwood as the Mother
- Aimee King as Infanta Isabel of Spain
- David Robb as Admiral Sir William Wynter
- Malcolm Storry as Sir Francis Drake (uncredited)[2]
Production
Principal photography began 28 April 2006 and completed on 1 August 2006.
Historical background
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2017) |
In November 1558, King Philip II of Spain's second wife, Queen Mary I of England, died. They had married in July 1554, a year after Mary's accession to the English throne, but the English Parliament had refused to grant him much real power as co-monarch of England.
For many years Philip maintained peace with England, and even defended Elizabeth from the Pope's threat of excommunication. This was a measure taken to preserve a European balance of power. Ultimately, Elizabeth allied England with the Protestant rebels in the Netherlands. Further, English ships began a policy of piracy against Spanish trade and threatened to plunder the great Spanish treasure ships coming from the New World. English ships went so far as to attack a Spanish port. The last straw for Philip was the Treaty of Nonsuch signed by Elizabeth in 1585 – promising troops and supplies to the rebels. Although it can be argued this English action was the result of Philip's Treaty of Joinville with the Catholic League of France, Philip considered it an act of war by England. With the Pope's blessing, he launched the Spanish Armada to attack England, Protestantism, and Elizabeth herself. Sir Walter Raleigh, whom the Queen favoured, married Bess Throckmorton, a ward of Elizabeth's court, after learning she was carrying his child. Elizabeth I had both of them arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, but later released them.
Dramatic licence
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013) |
This representation of a historical period is heavily fictionalised for the purposes of entertainment. The film's lead Cate Blanchett was reported as saying: "It's terrifying that we are growing up with this very illiterate bunch of children, who are somehow being taught that film is fact, when in fact it's invention".[4] Some of the simpler fictions are:
- Sir Walter Raleigh is falsely portrayed as a major figure in the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the film does not credit Sir Francis Drake and other key leaders of the English fleet (a character called "Drake" does appear during the battle with the Spanish; the role is played, uncredited, by actor Malcolm Storry).
- Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was lieutenant general at the Armada crisis, but in the film, he is not present at the Tilbury camp, his role having been given to Raleigh. The movie also does not make mention of Dudley's military campaign in the Netherlands.
- Charles Howard (then Lord Howard of Effingham, the actual commander of the English fleet), says at one point, "We're losing too many ships." In reality, not a single English ship was lost during the battle.
- The film depicts Elizabeth being advised by Dr John Dee. Historically, Dee was travelling on the European mainland throughout the period depicted and did not return until more than a year after the defeat of the Armada. Elizabeth's actual main advisor and chief minister, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, is omitted from the film altogether.
- The portrayed Jesuit leader of the Babington Plot, Robert Reston, is completely fictional, though based on the real-life Jesuit John Ballard, who encouraged Babington to initiate the assassination attempt on Elizabeth, which would subsequently begin the chain of events leading to the Spanish invasion. However, because Ballard was depicted being executed in the previous film for participating in the Ridolfi plot, the role of Reston was created to replace him.
- In the film, Elizabeth is confronted at the altar of Old St Paul's Cathedral by Anthony Babington, who has a pistol charged with powder but no shot. The real Babington Plot was, like preceding plots against Elizabeth, discovered and thwarted by Francis Walsingham's investigative efforts while still in the planning stages, long before there was any actual attempt to kill Elizabeth.
- The film also depicts Babington (and, implicitly, the other conspirators) as having been hanged by hanging, drawing and quartering.
- In 1585, Elizabeth was 52 (considered too old to bear children). The film shows various suitors being presented to the queen, with a view to marriage and children; the events presented actually took place much earlier in her reign. For instance, Maria Anna of Bavaria, with whom he had fifteen children.
- Philip II of Spain is depicted at the time of the Armada as an old, sick man. In fact he was just five years older than Elizabeth, and his death did not occur until eight years later, in 1596.
- In 1588, Infanta Isabel of Spain is portrayed as a child. In reality, she was 21 by this time.
- William Walsingham is a completely fictitious character. The real William Walsingham was the father of Francis Walsingham.
- Mary Walsingham, Walsingham's daughter in the film, died in 1580. Phillip Sidney.
- The lady-in-waiting Bess Throckmorton in fact became pregnant with Walter Raleigh's child in the summer of 1591, three years after the defeat of the Armada, not immediately before. After their secret marriage was inevitably discovered, Elizabeth had them locked up in the Tower of London. While she did eventually release them both, it was not out of any sense of forgiveness as the movie depicts. She released Raleigh because one of his expeditions returned to England with a captured Spanish ship, the Madre de Dios, and his men threatened a mutiny if she did not return Raleigh to them. Bess was released because Elizabeth felt guilty after Bess's baby died of plague while she was incarcerated in the Tower.
- The affair between Raleigh and Bess is depicted as beginning when Raleigh consoles Bess after her cousin Francis is executed for his plot to assassinate Elizabeth, but that happened six years before the affair actually took place.
- Mary, Queen of Scots is depicted as having a Scottish accent, when in actuality, she had been raised at the French court from the age of five and did not return to Scotland until she was a young woman.
- The film shows Spanish envoys and other members of court wearing swords during their audiences with Elizabeth. Owing to threats of assassination, only members of the Royal Guardwere permitted to carry weapons near Elizabeth while she was in court.
- The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, is portrayed as having happened very swiftly after her arrest, while she was still a young woman. In fact, Mary was held in custody at various places for 19 years before her execution in 1587, at the age of 44.
- The film depicts the battle between the English navy and the Spanish Armada as consisting of broadsides from the ships of both fleets. In fact, while the English ships were able to fire multiple times during the course of a day, the heavy Spanish guns were so difficult to reload that they were frequently only fired once. Broadsides would accompany later developments in ship design in the first half of the 17th century, the first major actions involving such technology and tactics for the English being the Anglo-Dutch Wars.
- During the film, Elizabeth spoke German to Charles II, Archduke of Austria. Although Elizabeth spoke several languages there is no evidence that she was taught or spoke German; nor is it likely that they ever met.
- There was no Spanish ambassador in Elizabeth's court in 1585, as Elizabeth had him expelled from England following the discovery of the Throckmorton plot, after Francis Throckmorton claimed under torture that his plot had been sanctioned by the Spanish.
Claims of anti-Catholicism
The film depicts an important episode in the violent struggle between the
In the US the National Catholic Register, film critic Steven D. Greydanus compared this film to The Da Vinci Code, and wrote: "The climax, a weakly staged destruction of the Spanish Armada, is a crescendo of church-bashing imagery: rosaries floating amid burning flotsam, inverted crucifixes sinking to the bottom of the ocean, the rows of ominous berobed clerics slinking away in defeat. Pound for pound, minute for minute, Elizabeth: The Golden Age could possibly contain more sustained church-bashing than any other film I can think of." Greydanus asked: "How is it possible that this orgy of anti-Catholicism has been all but ignored by most critics?"[5]
Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger said: "This movie equates Catholicism with some sort of horror-movie cult, with scary close-ups of chanting monks and glinting crucifixes."[6] Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune complained of what he saw as "ugly anti-Catholic imagery",[7] and Bob Bloom of the Lafayette Journal & Courier agreed that anti-Catholicism was one of the film's "sore points".[8]
Monsignor Mark Langham, Administrator of Westminster Cathedral, was criticised by some Roman Catholics for allowing scenes to be shot there; although praising the film as a "must see", he suggested that "it does appear to perpetuate the myth of 'killer priests'".[9][10]
Historian Franco Cardini, of the
Director
Kapur extended this
Filming locations
- Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire, England, UK (Raleigh's house exteriors)
- Brean Down, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England (Queen Elizabeth addresses her troops)
- Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England (John Dee's house exteriors/London alley/Paris street scene)
- Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England
- Dorney Court, Dorney, Buckinghamshire, England (Raleigh's house/Walsingham's house/chapel interiors)
- Doune Castle, Doune, Stirling, Scotland
- Eilean Donan Castle, Kyle of Lochalsh, Highland, Scotland (Fotheringhay Castleexteriors)
- Ely Cathedral, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England (Whitehall Palace interior)
- Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England (Chartley Hall, also the interior of Walsingham's house)
- Leeds Castle, Kent, England (Chartley Hall/Windsor Castle exteriors)
- Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England (Windsor Great Park)
- Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England
- St Bartholomew-the-Great, London, England (Fotheringhay Castle/Chartley Hall interiors)
- St John's College, Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England (Whitehall Palace exteriors/Thames scenes)
- Wells Cathedral, Wells, Somerset, England (Whitehall Palace interiors)
- Westminster Cathedral, Westminster, London, England (Escorial Palace/Lisbon Cathedral interiors)
- St. Paul's Cathedral/The Chapel Royal interiors/gallows scene) [1] Archived 29 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Soundtrack
Elizabeth: The Golden Age: Music from the Motion Picture | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | October 2007 | |||
Recorded | AIR Studios, Lyndhurst, Hampshire | |||
Genre | Soundtrack | |||
Length | 48:10 | |||
Label | Decca | |||
Producer |
| |||
A. R. Rahman chronology | ||||
| ||||
Craig Armstrong chronology | ||||
|
The original score was composed by A. R. Rahman and Craig Armstrong. Kapur was thrilled to have both Rahman and Armstrong working together on the music, saying it was fascinating to watch "two people with totally different backgrounds and cultures" interact.[18]
Blanchett had travelled to India in the early 2000s, coming away with several Indian sounds, and badgered Kapur to get Rahman to score
"Opening" from the score was used in the BBC's coverage of the Single's Finals at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. "Storm" is heard in a trailer of the 2013 film Man of Steel.[20]
Track listing
No. | Title | Composer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Opening" | A. R. Rahman | 1:31 |
2. | "Philip" |
| 1:51 |
3. | "Now You Grow Dull" | A. R. Rahman | 0:57 |
4. | "Horseriding" | A. R. Rahman | 1:38 |
5. | "Immensities" |
| 2:41 |
6. | "Bess and Raleigh Dance" | A. R. Rahman | 2:34 |
7. | "Mary's Beheading" |
| 3:22 |
8. | "End Puddle / Possible Suitors" |
| 2:06 |
9. | "War / Realisation" |
| 2:57 |
10. | "Destiny Theme" |
| 2:31 |
11. | "Smile Lines" |
| 1:15 |
12. | "Bess to See Throckmorton" |
| 1:03 |
13. | "Dr Dee Part 1" | A. R. Rahman | 3:18 |
14. | "Horseback Address" |
| 2:26 |
15. | "Battle" | A. R. Rahman | 3:29 |
16. | "Love Theme" |
| 2:51 |
17. | "Divinity Theme" | A. R. Rahman | 5:08 |
18. | "Storm" | A. R. Rahman | 3:00 |
19. | "Walsingham Death Bed" |
| 1:51 |
20. | "Closing" |
| 2:00 |
Total length: | 48:10 |
Home media
The film was released on DVD and HD DVD on 5 February 2008, and on Blu-ray in 2009.[citation needed]
Reception
Critical reception
Although Cate Blanchett's performance was highly praised, the film received generally mixed to negative reviews from US critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 35% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 167 reviews; the average rating is 5.1/10. The critics consensus reads, "This sequel is full of lavish costumes and elaborate sets, but lacks the heart and creativity of the original Elizabeth."[21] On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 45 out of 100, based on 35 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade as its predecessor.[23]
Colin Covert of the
Box office
Elizabeth: The Golden Age grossed $6.1 million in 2,001 theatres during its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, ranking #6 at the box office.[1] In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland the film entered at No. 4 and earned £1.3 million ($2.7 million) on its opening weekend.[29] As of February 2009[ref] the worldwide total was $74.2 million, including $16.4 million in the US and Canada and $57.8 million elsewhere.[30] In contrast, the film's predecessor, Elizabeth, grossed $30 million in the United States and Canada, and a total of $82.1 million worldwide.[31]
Awards and nominations
The film received two
At the 11th Pyongyang International Film Festival held in September 2008, one of the awards for special screening were conferred upon the film.[citation needed]
See also
- Black legend
- Cultural depictions of Elizabeth I
- Cultural depictions of Philip II of Spain
- Spanish Armada
References
- ^ a b "Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) – Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
- ^ Curtis Brown Talent Agency: Malcolm Storry CV, Curtis Brown, retrieved 16 February 2024
- ^ "King Philip II of Spain". elizabethan-era.org.uk.
- ^ "Cate Blanchett's film rant". M&C, People News. 5 November 2007. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ^ Steven D. Greydanus. "Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)". National Catholic Register via decentfilm.com. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
- ^ Stephen Witty (15 October 2007). "Glittering like fool's gold". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
- ^ Colin Covert, 'Elizabeth' a golden delight Star Tribune, 12 October 2007
- ^ Bloom, Bob 'Golden Age' adds nothing as a sequel[permanent dead link] Journal & Courier, 12 October 2007
- Telegraph, 3 November 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
- ^ Mark Langham, 'The Golden Age Dawns' Archived 27 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Solomon, I Have Surpassed Thee, 10 August 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
- ^ Richard Owen, 'Rome condemns Queen Elizabeth again – this time over film of her reign', The Times, 1 November 2007. Retrieved on 1 November 2007.
- ^ 'Historian bags Blanchett's Elizabeth: The Golden Age', Herald Sun, 2 November 2007. Retrieved on 2 November 2007.
- ^ Sajeda Momin, 'Elizabeth is anti-Christian'[permanent dead link], DNA, 2 November 2007. Retrieved on 2 November 2007.
- ^ Sandy George, 'Elizabeth film “not anti-Catholic”' Archived 7 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Australian, 2 November 2007. Retrieved on 2 November 2007.
- ^ 'Blanchett defends new role at STC', ABC News, 2 November 2007. Retrieved on 2 November 2007.
- Rediff News, 21 November 2007. Retrieved on 22 November 2007.
- About.com: Hollywood Movies. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
- ^ "Golden Age Diary: Craig Armstrong and A R Rahman". Shekharkapur.com. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
- ^ "Rahman and the Oscars". Archived from the original on 30 January 2009.
- ^ "What's That Song in the 'Man of Steel' Trailer?". ScreenCrush. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ "Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
- ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (2 November 2007). "Elizabeth: The Golden Age –". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
- ^ Roger Ebert (12 October 2007). ":: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Elizabeth: The Golden Age". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
- Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
- ^ Wesley Morris (12 October 2007). "Elizabeth: The Golden Age Movie Review". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 25 October 2007.
- Newsnight Review, BBC Two, 26 October 2007.
- ^ "Box-office UK". AlloCine. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
- ^ "Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) – Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ "Elizabeth (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
- ^ "Nominees – 80th Annual Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2008.
- ^ "The 80th (2008) Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ "12th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards". Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- AACTA. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- BAFTA. 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ "Previous Winners & Nominees" (PDF). BSC. 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Critics' Choice Awards nominations". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. 11 December 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
- ^ "Winners of the 10th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards". Costume Designers Guild. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ Hilton, Beth (10 March 2008). "Sony Ericsson Empire Awards: The Winners". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- HFPA. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ "Irish Film & Television Awards Winners 2008". Irish Film and Television Academy. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
- ^ "International Press Academy website – 2007 12th Annual SATELLITE Awards". Archived from the original on 1 February 2008.
- ^ "Final 14th Annual SAG Awards Recipient Press Release". Screen Actors Guild. 27 January 2008. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.