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11-12-2018, 05:12 PM
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BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

There are many far from kind reviews of the film, but this one took my fancy:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/201...queen-of-scots

(extract only)

Near the start of Mary Queen of Scots, Mary (Saoirse Ronan) arrives in Scotland from France in a rowing boat, having spent who knows how many hours or days at sea. Nevertheless, with her spotless haute couture dress and her magnificent hair-do in the shape of a table tennis bat, she looks as if she has just stepped out of a limousine on her way to the Met Gala. It’s that type of film. Mary’s four ladies-in-waiting – all named Mary, not that the script mentions this – are always ready for a magazine cover-shoot. Most of the men dress in matching black leather jerkins like The X-Men. Mary’s half-brother (James McArdle), goes heavy on the eyeshadow. And John Knox (David Tennant) has a vast beard and double-decker flat cap, as if Tennant were trying to prove that he, rather than Jude Law, should have been cast as the young Albus Dumbledore.

It’s all very fashion-forward, but the effect of this show-offy modern styling is to make a silly film even sillier. A British period drama starring two Oscar nominees as two 16th Century monarchs, Mary Queen of Scots is the sort of prestige production that usually does well during awards season. But this flashily tailored shambles won’t win much except in the hair, make-up and costume categories.

What Mary Queen of Scots fails to establish is why we should care about any of this 400-odd years later. It doesn’t even ask if Mary actually wants to be the queen of England, or whether her accession would be a good or bad thing. Presumably, the British people must have an opinion on the matter, but most of the film is set within the walls of Mary and Elizabeth’s gloomy palaces (Mary’s rocky grotto in Edinburgh seems to have been modelled on the Batcave), so we hardly ever glimpse anyone who isn’t an aristocrat. Maybe O’Rourke wanted to show how cut off the rulers are from their loyal and not-so loyal subjects, but it looks suspiciously like the producers didn’t have the budget for crowd scenes, perhaps because they had spent so much on hairspray.
In the film, the queens meet once, but, in real life, they never met at all - apparently, that's just one of many historical inaccuracies .....

Another TV/Film to file under Style Over Substance .....
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11-12-2018, 05:26 PM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

Speaking of historical inaccuracies, it seems every historical building I visit, Mary QOS slept there. She really got around didn't she.
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11-12-2018, 05:46 PM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Speaking of historical inaccuracies, it seems every historical building I visit, Mary QOS slept there. She really got around didn't she.
Not as much as Elizabeth I, who made 20-odd summer "progresses" through southern and midland counties with over 1,000 staff and 500 carts, foisting herself and her retinue on whatever Lord she came across and demanding that he feed and entertain them .....

https://shakespeareandbeyond.folger....er-progresses/
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11-12-2018, 05:51 PM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

Originally Posted by Omah ->
Not as much as Elizabeth I, who made 20-odd summer "progresses" through southern and midland counties with over 1,000 staff and 500 carts, foisting herself and her retinue on whatever Lord she came across and demanding that he feed and entertain them .....

https://shakespeareandbeyond.folger....er-progresses/
Unbelievable! That's worse than we go on holiday.
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11-12-2018, 06:23 PM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Unbelievable! That's worse than we go on holiday.
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11-12-2018, 07:26 PM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

The best film of Mary QOS was the one with Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson - Brilliant!
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11-12-2018, 07:33 PM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

Originally Posted by Silver Tabby ->
The best film of Mary QOS was the one with Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson - Brilliant!
That's another version which took historical liberties:
  • For dramatic effect, the film presents two meetings between the queens, although they never met in life.
  • Moreover, the film depicts Mary as enjoying a late-morning cup of hot chocolate in bed (and even requesting it when she is a prisoner) when this was not a popular drink in the British Isles until well into the 18th century.
  • The film also implies a homosexual liaison between Darnley and Riccio.

Glenda's a favourite of mine, though .....
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11-12-2018, 07:36 PM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

I realise it was probably hopelessly inaccurate - apart from the Darnley/Riccio thing - apparently that was true - but it was entertaining!!
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30-01-2019, 12:48 AM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Speaking of historical inaccuracies, it seems every historical building I visit, Mary QOS slept there. She really got around didn't she.
She had a bicycle, Dongles!
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30-01-2019, 12:52 AM
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Re: BBC Film Review - Mary Queen 0f Scots (2018)

Right - have just watched this new version of Mary, QOS - and have to say it was the most boring, badly acted film I have seen in years. What a waste of £3 on a DVD that is going straight into the charity bag - unless anyone here wants it FOC?
 
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