Spoiler Alert The first Elizabeth movie with Cate Blanchett was good, at least for Hollywood. There were inaccuracies (see below). Putting aside that this was a Hollywood movie, therefore making it bound to have inaccuracies, the movie itself is entertaining and illustrated what Elizabeth had to go through before becoming Queen. Right in the beginning, she was almost executed for treason by her own half sister.
Then, once she inherits the thrown , she has to overcome the obstacles of individuals in high power who do not believe she should be Queen, for example the Duke of Norfolk & even the Pope.
Besides the dealings of government, Parliament, especially her loyal servant Lord Burghley, strongly urges her to marry. By marrying, she secures her thrown by having two rulers, therefore making an alliance with another country, and most important having an heir. She adored and truly loved Robert Dudley (Earl of Leicester) but cannot marry him, as he is not from royal blood.
By the end of the movie, she rids of her enemies (with major help from Walsingham), and considers herself a virgin and states to Lord Burghley "Observe Lord Burghley, I am married to England". It's inaccuracies do trouble me, but I still recommend this movie to any Tudor lover, and any Elizabeth fan. The movie, in my opinion receives a B and the acting receives a B+.
Here are some of the major Inaccuracies (for more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_%28film%29):
-Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, is shown in the film as converting to Catholicism towards the end of the movie when in fact he was a staunch Protestant and most loyal servant to the Queen, making such conversion or treason unthinkable. He fought important battles for her, sat on her privy counsel, all the way until he died. The notion, in the movie, that he committed treason and that she never saw him again is TOTALLY NOT TRUE.
-Mary Tudor is shown as overweight at the end of her life when in reality Mary was reportedly always very thin.
- In the film, Elizabeth appears to find out from Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley) that Robert Dudley is married, whereas in reality Elizabeth was well aware, since she attended his wedding. She was aware of his first marriage, not the second.
- The character who seems to be based on Lettice Knollys (called Isabel Knollys in the film for some reason) dies from a poison dress while having sex with Robert Dudley. However, Lettice Knollys did not suffer this fate or anything similar. She married Dudley years later.
- William Cecil was not even 40 years old when Elizabeth began her reign, contrary to his cinematic portrayal as an older gentlemen. He was not retired by the young queen and remained one of her most trusted advisers until his death, shortly before hers. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was in his mid-twenties when Elizabeth was crowned, not a middle-aged man as he was portrayed by Geoffrey Rush. In the epilogue it is stated that Sir Francis Walsingham served Elizabeth until the end of her reign. However, Walsingham died 13 years before Elizabeth did.
- The conspiracy of The Duke of Norfolk combines several events into one. In the film, he is arrested and executed for trying to supplant Elizabeth and marry Mary, Queen of Scots to have a hold on the throne, thus giving him ultimate and supreme power. In reality, Norfolk was imprisoned in 1569 for trying to wed Mary, Queen of Scots without permission, but was eventually released. Subsequently, he was implicated in a separate plot in 1572 (three years later) to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne, for which he was then tried and executed. Contrary to his portrayal in the film as ruthless and powerful, he was actually a weak man, easily led and used by others.
- In order to guarantee passage of the "Act of Uniformity", Walsingham locks up six bishops, precisely the number of opponents who would have caused the act to be defeated. No such incarceration took place. Bishops throughout the film are shown wearing black attire, this is historically inaccurate.
- The film depicts Elizabeth as having an affair with Robert Dudley. There is no evidence to support the she ever slept with Dudley or any other man at any time in her life, though it has been rumored. The assumption that she engaged in sexual activity with Dudley is likely the product of gossip, and she proclaimed herself to have "lived and died a virgin".
- At the end of the film, Elizabeth decides to shave her hair to look like a virgin. She never shaved or even cut her hair short. In the movie, she is shown wearing a wig in the end, and though the real Elizabeth did wear wigs later in life. They were worn to hide the thin, sparse hair that was the result of her smallpox.
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