This is the story of a girl who in line of succession to the British throne, and who lost her innocence after witnessing the cruelties of the world. The story takes place in the 16th century in the Tudor Era. Queen Mary has died and Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, is now the heir - who is to be the new ruler of England. Elizabeth is 25-year-old and a Protestant and is to take the throne of a Catholic country.
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Elizabeth is in love with a man named Robert Dudley, a childhood love she is spending a lot of time with. Now Queen, she is set to marry and numerous suitors attempt to win her heart which she does her best to ignore; she remains in love with Robert. They have an affair but, as she later learns that Robert is married, she decides to break things off with him once and for all and focuses on ruling the country. Her advisor keeps telling her that being a single Queen is badly perceived and that she must marry and have children. She continues to meet with several suitors as she knows her advisor is right but decides to charm them instead, into getting what she wants and what is best for political means - for her country.
Throughout the movie, Elizabeth has to fight off countries such as France which is opposing her in her political endeavours and threatening to go to war; in addition to suitors who, in her eyes, are trying to take her power away from her. She gets closer to the King of France, spends a lot of time with him, but eventually decides to not accept his marriage proposal as she wishes to be the sole ruler of England. He has however already been smitten and is willing to do whatever it takes to please her; hence she manages to avoid wars and oppositions - which was her goal all along. She becomes cold, somewhat paranoid and believes murderers are just around the corner. Elizabeth also becomes increasingly harsh as her cousin is incredibly jealous of her and plotted to murder her. Elizabeth becomes willing to kill whomever gets in her way, attempting to steer her power away from her, which she does for Mary after learning of the conspiracy - showing the world she will be relentless. She also does so as she learns that Philip of Spain has been plotting, and she executes him. Her own aunt decides to send troops to oppose Elizabeth's, but Elizabeth wins the battle. She manages to rule successfully without having a man by her side which was frowned upon and which everyone thought impossible. In the end, she declares she will never marry, that she will remain a virgin, that she will commit her life to England.
Best part of story, including ending:
I absolutely loved this movie, beautiful story and costumes, and amazing performances.
Best scene in story:
In the end, when Elizabeth looks at herself in the mirror and says that she has become a virgin. Being a history fanatic, I then understood perfectly who the famous Virgin Mary was.
Opinion about the main character:
She remained strong, even though she felt alone and had numerous enemies who plotted to kill her. She also never let her country down.
Elizabeth, the Protestant heir to the English throne, fights the Catholics - her sister Bloody Mary and the clergy. With a little help from bodyguard turned personal advisor for life Sir Walsingham, she becomes the Virgin Queen. This metamorphosis has a twist you hadn't thought about.
She also finds the time to ditch a sleazy lover and ridicule French royalty. And the costumes are absolutely fabulous!
The review of this Movie prepared by Ewan
