Elizabeth

England. 1555. Henry VIII has snuffed it from gout or syphilis, it depends on who you read, Bloody Mary's got a tumour and the Catholics' greatest fear is Anne Boleyn's daughter Elizabeth. Director Kapur has brought to the screen some of the most intriguing moments in English history and the result is dazzling.

Following recent grandiose French historical epics, such as the glorious Ridicule, Elizabeth more than holds its own as a no-holds barred, gripping English extravaganza. Historians across the land will no doubt pick holes in the accuracy, but it hardly matters.

The opening scene signals the film's intent. Protestant heretics are burnt mercilessly at the grisly stake, accompanied by proclamations that they should burn in Hell. It's clear that England is in a pretty gloomy state and ruled by a humourless zealot, Mary (the ubiquitous Kathy Burke), who is hell-bent on converting or murdering Elizabeth: "My sister was born a whore of that Ann Boleyn."

Cheery Mary rules a poor, remote island that is very likely to become the next possession of the growing empire of Spain. She is surrounded by rebels who want to place the Protestant Elizabeth on the throne. So, Mary gets her trusted Lord Norfolk (Eccleston cuts an impressive presence; you can imagine this man swishing on the battlefield) to arrest Lizzy and dispatch her to the Tower of London.

The camerawork and the pace of this film are breathtaking. Kapur directs with ambitious panache, whilst supplying more than a wink to Coppola's The Godfather in the process. Two scenes in particular reek of the Mafia masterpiece: one in the Vatican, the other a succession of assassinations sparked by the majesty's demand, "let it all be done". Pure Pacino.

If you shimmy past the slightly silly inclusions of the likes of Eric Cantona (the IKEA School of Acting) and Angus Deayton, and the fact that Dickie Attenborough (plays a fussy sidekick who sniffs the Queen's bedsheets and claims, "her body belongs to the State") is starting to resemble an Ewok, the acting is otherwise splendid.

Cate Blanchett not only resembles the great lady, but imparts her with enormous affection (her love of Lord Dudley, played by Fiennes, is tenderly dealt with) and delivers her lines with a steely intelligence, "I do not see why a woman must marry at all" and "I'm no man's Elizabeth" . Her performance is a revelation and if it weren't for Geoffrey Rush she would have stolen every scene. However, the Shine star, playing her demonic sidekick Walsingham, delights in creeping in the shadows and pulling the devilish strings. A positively Machiavellian turn and worthy of another Oscar.

This is a history film made at its very finest and the equal of A Man For All Seasons. Elizabeth could have unfolded in front of me all day and I would have remained enraptured. Intoxicating imagery ("English blood on French colours" the wicked Mary of Guise, Ardant, proclaims), naughty shenanigans, dastardly deeds, an epic tale and a superb cast. Stunning cinema.

The Academy Awards ceremony of 1999 angered many people: Shakespeare in Love, albeit a very smart and funny film, robbed the superior Saving Private Ryan of the Best Picture Oscar; Roberto Benigni beat Edward Norton in the Best Actor category (though it was the Italian star's behavior, rather than his performance, that irritated those attending the event); and Gwyneth Paltrow, who wasn't actually bad in Shakespeare, walked away with the Best Actress award, depriving Cate Blanchett of the recognition she should have received for her revelatory work in Elizabeth.

This film, the first in what the director hopes will be a trilogy (the second installment was released in 2007), covers the early years of Elizabeth I's reign, from her harsh upbringing to the decision to call herself "the Virgin Queen". To describe her situation as tough is an understatement: she was a Protestant monarch in a largely Catholic kingdom, several covert groups wanted her dead and foreign sovereigns kept asking for her hand in marriage, without ever succeeding, for the only man she loved was also the only one she couldn't have.

Conspiracies and unhappy romances: two unusual ingredients for a period drama. And that is exactly why the film succeeds: in the mind of director Shekhar Kapur, this is not the usual costume film where events are observed with a static eye and what might be perceived by some as excessive slowness (Quentin Tarantino's infamous rant about "Merchant-Ivory sh*t" is aimed at those productions); instead, we get a lively, vibrant piece of work, with the camera sweeping through the gorgeous sets and leering at the exquisite costumes while recounting the grand story. And what a story: the thriller aspect aims to please viewers who find the genre a bit lacking in the tension department, whereas the Queen's doomed love affair with Joseph Fiennes' Earl of Leicester (a plot element to which the BBC miniseries from 2005, starring Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons, is a sort of sequel) is the polar opposite of the sanitized, passionless romantic tales that tend to feature in other period films.

Good-looking technique and strong storytelling would, however, be useless if the title role wasn't played by an equally great actress, and Pakur found the perfect Elizabeth in Blanchett: an odd choice she may have seemed (she was a complete unknown in Hollywood prior to being cast in this movie), but the performance she delivers is nothing short of astonishing. Doubtful, determined, passionate, naive, heartbroken, firm and charismatic - she is quite simply the best on-screen incarnation of Elizabeth in the long history of biopics. The supporting cast (Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Richard Attenborough) is also excellent, as expected from British and Australian thespians, but it is Blanchett who dominates the entire picture. Shame the Academy didn't take notice.

To devalue a tale of this magnitude with the Cantona cuckoo beggars belief, might as well have had Vinnie Jones playing Norfolk! I'm unconvinced of Vincent Cassel's legitimacy in this as well.

That aside, there's only one character and one actor of note to be found here and that is the magnificent Cate Blanchett who plays several divisions or leagues above even the most accomplished thespians in support. A woman born to play the role if ever there was one. She allows us to forgive some of the historical anomalies and interactions, in return we consume a performance that convinces us, albeit for only a couple of hours, that we are in the company of majesty!

This is a complex topic to try and do in a film and it shows.

We are taken through all the main points of Elizabeth's rise to power but there simply isn't enough time to explain the character's actions, particularly those that oppose her, and this leaves certain scenes seeming pointless even though they probably had huge significance, the biggest instance of this is when she wins a vote and we aren't really told why we should care.

The performances are good, Blanchett is superb, but few characters are given a chance to perform. Eccleston is particularly wasted as her main opponent, the Duke of Norfolk, he delivers some menace while on screen but has so few lines it is hard to know, or care, what his motivation really is.

I suppose the slight writing for the other characters can be forgiven to some extent since the film is about Elizabeth and focuses on her love life and it's impact on politics and vice versa but as Queen her actions were driven by the powerful people around her and by not giving them a voice the film seems pointless and shallow.

It is supposed to be an historical film and the lack of detail leaves you confused as to the significance of events and people and that in turns leaves you feeling a little cheated, it's as if there is a great film there somewhere but you aren't being shown it. As a TV series it could have been great as a film it's just watchable.

It's painful to watch this movie, because the overpowering beauty of the locations, the cinematography, and the cast (mainly Cate Blanchett) is used in the service of an almost unbelievably shallow, smug, and cynical reading of English history.

Other reviewers have already done a superb job of pointing out the factual inaccuracies of the film's portrayal of Elizabeth and her advisors. What I'd like to comment on is the overriding theme. This is not a feminist movie. This is a pseudo-feminist movie. In order to make Elizabeth strong, the men have to be presented as weak, duplicitous, or stupid -- or sometimes all three at once! Cynically, the film makers seem to assume that the only way to make Elizabeth look strong is to surround her with weak, morally repellent men. Or perhaps they think that the mere presence of a strong woman automatically emasculates men.

In actual fact, of course, the remarkable thing about Elizabeth's reign is that she brought out the best in the men who served her. She was in fact an inspiring figure. None of this comes through in the movie. Weak men fail her, and strong men are simply destroyed by her. Whose fantasy is this, anyway?

Related to this is the problem of patriotism. Elizabeth's ruthlessness and determination are presented cynically in the film as a matter of strict self-preservation. In actual fact, Elizabeth was beloved by her people precisely because she loved England much more than her own security or safety. Moreover, her ability to take risks and defy France and Spain stemmed from her intuitive knowledge of the strength of the English people. She trusted them, and they trusted her. None of that comes across here. To put it another way, Elizabeth in real life was a master politician who enjoyed interacting with her subjects and was always able to communicate with them. But in this movie there is not one single crowd scene, not one single time when Elizabeth seems interested in, let alone guided by, the hopes and fears of the English common people.

This movie assumes that to a modern audience, "patriotism" is a dirty word. As a result it entirely misses the point of Elizabeth's life, and fails to understand either her motivations or the underpinnings of her success. Cynicism without insight, spectacle without grandeur, passion without emotion . . . this is the most shallow masterpiece ever made.

Cate Blanchett deserved better, and so did Elizabeth.