Elizabeth I

What a film,what a film!! Wonderful acting by an actress who is top of the league,namely Helen Mirren.Then we have the man who for me made this film so powerful,so strong,so memorable.His name?? Jeremy Irons of course.This has to be one of his all time greats in his illustrious career. Elizabeth and Leicester,the beautiful romance that carries on through the ensuing centuries.Their devotion to each other throughout the first half was sheer electricity ~~ his jealousy,her tantrums,his banishment from court for 7 years,and then the wonderful scene of his re-instatement,the love that could not be broken. I loved the part played by the Duke of Anjou.We were expecting an ugly old man,bent and twisted,and,then voila! "What did we see!" but a handsome virile man in his prime who captivated Elizabeth and broke old Leicesters heart.But, as with all loves in Elizabeths life,marriage was not to be alas,as she waved him adieu from an awe inspiring scenery of how London and the Thames must have looked at that time. We must not forget the Scottish Queen,Mary ~~ the perennial thorn in Elizabeths side.How sad to see this devoutly Catholic Queen,despised by all,including her son James the 1st.Then the scene of Mary being decapitated.Dreadful,truly dreadful,especially when the axeman missed her neck and plunged the axe blade into poor Mary's skull instead. There was also plenty of Tudor brutality too,as we see men hung,drawn and quartered in the most gruesome way imagineable.The crowds apparently enjoying this awful spectacle. If you love Elizabethan history then this is a must.The background music is just right,absolutely perfect.It has the elevation of choral Cathedral music,down to heart rending,tenderness with violin strings of sorrow. I always say,a good film is exactly like a good book.You can watch it over and over again and yet,you never tire of it. A film to treasure.

This version gripped me more than Anne Marie Duff's "The Virgin Queen" (although the soundtrack to that is great) and I now really feel sorry for Elizabeth. Although of course materialistically she had the best standard of living than anyone in the country at that time but the heartache she must have felt just doing her honour to the country we cannot imagine. There are very graphic execution scenes in this film. But we have to remember that the Elizabethan's saw death everyday. Public executions, public torture and to go back to that era fully as shocking and gory as it is for us in the 21st century, it was an everyday thing for anyone living in the 16th century. I was taught at school that Elizabeth 1 was heartless, ruthless and basically a nasty piece of work but after watching Mirren's take on her I think the complete opposite and I think anyone else watching this will feel the same.

Helen Mirren Nails Queen Elizabeth I. I think I have watched all things about Elizabeth I. I have certainly watched and own most films produced in the last 50 years. Also watched many many documentaries too! And read large books!!. I think this performance by Helen Mirren is 'The Best'!! She is able to portray a picture of an older Queen who is mortal and yet have the confidence of one who has had to portray herself as immortal for all of her life!! In the poem she wrote which is quoted in the film on the Duke of Anjou's final departure back to France, 'I freeze and yet am burned' 'My care is like my shadow....It flies when I pursue it. She says how she feels. Over and over in the film are little dewdrops which give you an incite into Queen Elizabeths' life. Impressive attention to detail and a close atmosphere created by showing the rush matting in the palaces and very low ceilings which gives an oppressive feeling. I come from Plymouth and have been to Sir Francis Drakes' house many times as a child and older, a beautifully preserved Tudor/Elizabethan Estate at' Buckland Abbey', Yelverton on the edge of Dartmoor Devon.This film reminded me of it. Drakes Drum is there too! In the second part Hugh Dancy is a real treat as the Earl of Essex. In the first part Jeremy Irons as the Earl Leicester is perfect. All acting extremely well done. Also the sets. If you want to watch a film that gets fairly near your imagination as to what times were really like then this is the one to watch!! Near perfect in it's genre 🏵️

I have just reviewed the Glenda Jackson version, so I can compare them. Despite Helen Mirren being an excellent actress, I felt that Glenda Jackson was marginally better. However, as with any historical drama, I cannot comment on the accuracy or otherwise of the portrayal of true events. This time Ian MacDiarmid and Patrick Malahide were superb, and the costumes were exceptional. The outdoor scenes added authenticity, I preferred Jeremy Irons to Robert Hardy. There was too much emphasis in the second DVD on the attraction of The Queen to the young and dashing Earl of Essex, and she displayed some childish and inappropriate behaviour during their many encounters. The scenes of torture and beheading were too gory for some, although those disgusting scenes were part and parcel of life in those days, unfortunately. I am always interested in the background music adding depth and atmosphere to events,but this time it seemed too heavy, intrusive, and not quite what was appropriate for the times. Overall, the series was very good, but beaten by one star by the Glenda Jackson one.

After viewing many times the two DVDs about Elizabeth played by Cate Blanchet I wondered why I recollected another actress playing this part. So I checked online at Amazon and realised it was Helen Mirren and ordered this DVD from Amazon straight away. I was so delighted with viewing this DVD as it covered a period in the life of Elizabeth, in her later years leading up to her death, that was so in need of being shown on a DVD. I would really recommend this version to everyone interested in this subject as Helen Mirren gives a rare quality of drama in this story of an aging queen that is often ignored.

Ok

Helen Mirren es sinónimo de calidad y en esta serie lo demuestra con creces. Calidad de imagen buena al igual que el audio.

Ein sagenhaftes Werk, wunderbar besetzt, grandios gespielt: 210 Minuten englische Geschichte, von denen keine Sekunde langweilig ist. Historisch gesehen ist diese Verfilmung mit Helen Mirren (der einzigen Schauspielerin, die beide Queens Elizabeth gespielt hat) viel authentischer als die Inszenierung mit der ebenfalls großartigen Cate Blanchett, deren zweiter Teil soeben in die Kinos gekommen ist. Teilweise sind dort die Abweichungen so groß, dass Kenner der englischen Geschichte manchmal schon schmerzlich zusammen zucken dürften. Hingegen ist die Geschichte der alternden Königin in der HBO-Produktion zum größten Teil historisch getreu wiedergegeben worden, klar, im Schlafzimmer war niemand dabei und ein Treffen Elizabeths mit ihrer großen Rivalin Maria Stuart hat laut der verfügbaren Quellen nie statt gefunden. Der Regisseur behilft sich hier mit einem Trick und macht daraus eben eine Geheimmission. Spätestens seit Schiller wissen wir, welchen dramaturgischen Reiz eine Konfrontation der beiden Gegenspielerinnen bietet, auch wenn man es dabei mit den Fakten nicht so genau nimmt. Jedoch zeigt die kurze Szene hervorragend die unterschiedlichen Auffassungen von Herrschaft, die die beiden Queens hatten. Überhaupt gelingt es der Inszenierung, sehr viel vom Charakter Elizabeths wiederzugeben, etwa ihre ambivalente Haltung was Marias Hinrichtung angeht, ihr stetes Zaudern. Hervorragend wird auch der Aufstieg und Fall des Grafen Essex geschildert. Wie gesagt, Zeugen eventueller intimer Zweisamkeiten gibt es nicht. Doch es unterliegt der künstlerischen Freiheit, solche Leerstellen aufzufüllen. Und in der Mirren-Verfilmung werden dabei bekannte Fakten nicht drastisch verfälscht, wie es in den Blanchett-Filmen (leider) der Fall ist. In der HBO-Produktion dient Erfundenes immer einem absolut legitimen Zweck, indem man etwa zeigt, wie einsam ihre herausgehobene Stellung Elizabeth als Mensch machte. Ihre liebsten Männer, Leicester und Essex, sind mit Jeremy Irons und Hugh Dancy ebenfalls hervorragend besetzt. Die historische Akkuratesse dieser Inszenierung schreckt auch vor drastischen Folter- und Hinrichtungsszenen nicht zurück. Auch das gehörte zum "Golden Age" der Queen Elizabeth. Bei allem Fokus auf den Herzensangelegenheiten der Königin, denen vielleicht mit Schielen aufs Publikum sehr viel Platz eingeräumt wird, biedert sich diese Verfilmung nicht so sehr an unser heutiges Verständnis an, wie es etliche Vorgänger-Streifen taten. Es war eine andere Zeit, mit anderen Lebensumständen und philosophischen und auch psychologischen Voraussetzungen. Wenn eine Inszenierung dies außer Acht lässt, missrät sie zur Kostümklamotte. Das ist hier nicht der Fall. Das Bonus-Material der DVD enthält unter anderem auch die heraus geschnittenen Szenen sowie visuelle Effekte im Vorher/Nachher-Modus. Diese anzusehen macht echt Spaß.

Mais surtout quelle actrice !!! Helen Mirren est une actrice remarquable qui peut jouer n'importe quel rôle et ce avec perfection... Ses films sont incontournables. Alors, si vous aimez le cinéma, vous savez ce qu'i vous reste à faire !!!! :o)

True story of Queen Elizabeth