The rival between Queen Elizabeth of England and Mary Queen of Scots builds, as each adversary makes their move, in a chess game that may cause someone’s life. This historical film about the fate of Mary Stewart is based on John Guy’s biography ‘Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart’.
After the death of her husband Francis II, Mary ‘Stuart’ Stewart (Saoirse Ronan) left France for Scotland and arrived in Leith on August 19, 1561. At this time she took control of the throne from her half-brother James 1st Earl of Moray (James McArdle) and Regent of Scotland. She met with the local lords and discussed her plans to assure her people that she is here to makes things good again. Most of the leaders welcomed Mary, except John Knox (David Tennant) a Protestant Cleric.
Following Mary’s bold move to take over her throne and claim herself the rightful successor to the Queen, Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie) felt threatened. Taking up council with her advisory, William Cecil (Guy Pierce), they together came up with a plan to convince Mary to wed a suitor of their choosing. The Queen sent Robert Dudley (Joe Alwyn), one of the Queen’s counselors and lover, to become Mary’s new husband in attempts to control the Scottish crown.
Mary had other plans and decided to marry her first cousin Lord Henry ‘Stuart’ Stewart of Darnley (Jack Lowden), since he had English land titles and ownership. This did not go over well with the British and caused disbelief with some of the Scottish people as well as some of her English supporters. With help from James Hepburn 4th Earl of Bothwell (Martin Compston), she survived many attacks, but her fate was challenged when the father of her husband Henry, Matthew ‘Stuart’ Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (Brendan Coyle) made a deal that would take away her rule.
Director Josie Rourke did a good job including the historical information about this time period, but seemed to skip around a lot and moved very fast during portions of the film. The acting was excellent, to the point, and very accurate, but lacked the content needed to make the story flow. The makeup and costume designed was spot on for that time period and the background setting for this tale helped bring it to life.
This great story that tells the history between Scotland and England is very intriguing, but too brief on content and bounced through scenes quite often. I do enjoy this type of movie, but prefer to be able to savor the content of each scene. It is still an enjoyable picture and worth watching, but maybe this one can wait for Blu-ray.
Final Comment: I based my grade on the limited storyline that skip along too quickly and seemed to be missing content. (3 out of 5 Stars)
Additional Film Information
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, David Tenant, and Guy Pierce.
Directed by: Josie Rourke
Genre: Biography, Drama, and History
MPAA Rating: R for severe sex and nudity, moderate violence and gore, mild alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and severe frightening and intense scenes.
Running Time: 2 hours and 4 minutes
Release Date: December 7, 2018
Distributed By: Focus Features
Released In: Standard, Dolby
