“Elizabeth” (1998), a depiction of the early life and times of Elizabeth I of England (daughter of the notorious Henry VIII), is considered to be Australian actress Cate Blanchett’s international breakout role. It was the first time most people had ever seen her on-screen before. It was a powerful, “A Star Is Born” debut.
Blanchett is hands down the queen of this opulent cinematic Renaissance pageantry, plain and simple. Without her, Indian director Shekhar Kapur’s labyrinthine history lesson (playing fast and loose with the actual history, it must be added) would have merely been a bunch of dark maneuverings in murky castles by men in tights.
>> Blanchett’s declaration, “I am no man’s Elizabeth”—like fellow Aussie actress Miranda Otto’s later declaration in “The Lord of the Rings,” “I am no man,” before smiting the mighty Nazgul witch-king—gave audiences to understand that here was indeed a woman with the fortitude to rule the British empire. (Blanchett also played Queen Galadriel in “The Lord of the Rings.”)
In fact, “Elizabeth” cast member Christopher Eccleston (Duke of Norfolk) said that it was Cate’s fiery Aussie blood that helped her nail this role, something he felt would have eluded most of her Brit actress contemporaries.
The History
Elizabeth’s precursor, the Catholic Queen Mary I (Kathy Burke), also known as “Bloody Mary” for burning 280 Protestants at the stake for refusing to convert, lied to the public, proclaiming that her distended belly was a pregnancy when it was actually cancer of the womb. She died in 1558. Her heir and Protestant half-sister Elizabeth, who’d been locked up in the Tower of London for conspiracy charges, is then freed and crowned queen of England.
Elizabeth inherits a chaotic England besieged by hostile neighboring countries, crumbling infrastructure, massive debt, and scheming, treasonous nobles lurking in her court, especially the Duke of Norfolk (Eccleston).
Her adviser, Sir William Cecil (Richard Attenborough), would like Elizabeth to marry and produce an heir to shore up the country’s perilous state. But young Elizabeth is not impressed with her suitors, especially France’s leader Mary of Guise’s nephew, Duc d’Anjou (Vincent Cassel), whom Elizabeth catches red-handed partying in his chambers with his entourage, wearing a dress, lipstick, and emitting high-pitched shrieks and giggles. She therefore continues her not-so-secret affair with Lord Robert Dudley.
War With France
When French Queen Mary of Guise (Fanny Ardant), perceiving Elizabeth as weak, sends 4,000 French troops to Scotland, Elizabeth, browbeaten by Norfolk at the war council, orders a military response.The professional French soldiers slaughter the inexperienced English troops (because a conspiracy of English lords and Catholic priests withheld Britain’s real fighting men). Elizabeth also survives an assassination attempt by Mary of Guise in the form of a poisoned dress that one of Elizabeth’s handmaidens is unlucky enough to wear while cheating in a castle alcove with Elizabeth’s lying paramour, Lord Dudley.
Recognizing the treason swiftly aligning against Elizabeth, Cecil appoints Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), a Protestant exile returned from France, to be her bodyguard and adviser. Elizabeth sends Walsingham to Scotland with a message for Mary of Guise: She will reconsider marrying Guise’s dress-wearing nephew. Unfortunately for the bloodthirsty Guise, it turns out that Walsingham also happens to be a skilled assassin.
Uniting the Christians
In an attempt to heal England’s religious divisions, Elizabeth signs into law the Act of Uniformity, which unites all English Christians under the Church of England—severing England’s connection to the Vatican.
Naturally, the pope (Sir John Gielgud) is not having any of that, and he sends James Bond to England to assist Norfolk and his co-conspirators in hatching their plot to overthrow Elizabeth. That is, he sends a priest played by Daniel Craig.
Coming Into Her Own
Elizabeth eventually fires Cecil, decides to follow her own counsel, and sets Walsingham to apprehend John Ballard, the priest carrying conspiracy letters from the pope. Under torture, Ballard sings like a canary, naming names and revealing the Vatican plot to put Norfolk on the throne if he agrees to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. Norfolk is arrested.
Thoughts
In a time when women were able to acquire status only through marriage, Queen Elizabeth led an empire. With her power constantly challenged by powerful men of church and state, conspiring against her every which way, it’s little wonder that the strength of the first Elizabeth to rule England at such a young and tender age is legendary.And while it’s been mentioned more than once that this transformational arc bears a chilling resemblance to Michael Corleone’s transition to power in “The Godfather,” the two films couldn’t be farther apart. “The Godfather” is about the loss of compassion and the death of the soul by an individual headed for hell.
The resemblance, which hinges on Elizabeth’s stoned-faced ascension to the imperial monarchy, is a culmination of the long journey of growing up, battling fears, shedding illusions, absorbing pain, learning judgment, acquiring the steel, sinew, and resolve of a true leader, and becoming one of the rare early female heads of state to rule successfully without an alliance with a man.
Ultimately, though, what we witness is the inspirational (and daunting) sacrificing of human emotion in order to become an empty vessel—a conduit for the divine to shine through. She relinquishes the love of a man in order to touch the people with the elevated compassion of a true spiritual leader.
The film was nominated for seven Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actress, Makeup (won), Cinematography, Costume Design, Art Design, and Original Dramatic Score. Cate Blanchett won for Best Actress in nine other award ceremonies, including the Golden Globes.
