As I've said, movies about real-life British royalty have a good track record with me. This one is by the same director (Charles Jarrott) as Anne of the Thousand Days, so it was apt to feel even more like a sequel thereto than The Private Life of Henry VIII.
The tale begins in 1560, when teenage Mary (34-year-old Vanessa Redgrave) is about to lose her first husband, King Francis of France (Richard Denning). Having no claim to his throne, she decides to return to Scotland, but Queen Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson) will not grant her safe passage through England to get there. Even when Mary arrives home by ship, she finds her reception rather lacking, thanks to the rise of Protestantism and attendant hostility to Catholics such as herself. Indeed, her next 27 years will be riddled with people seeking to undermine her, whether by making her a figurehead in practice, persuading her to renounce all authority, imprisoning her, or assassinating her.
Yeah, way to make me extra glad I'm not a royal from back when they had real power. It's especially heartbreaking to think how Mary keeps getting abused or betrayed by those close to her, including half-brother James (Patrick McGoohan) and second husband Darnley (Timothy Dalton). Heck, Elizabeth is her first cousin once removed but usually talks like there's no blood link between them. Those who do right by Mary usually end up paying at another's hands.
After the mostly positive portrayals I've seen of Elizabeth I (the facetious Blackadder notwithstanding), it's strange to have her looking generally worse than Mary. A more effective ruler, I don't doubt, but a less pleasant person. Mary repeatedly makes honest attempts at friendship and religious tolerance, yet Elizabeth won't trust anyone who could possibly threaten her position. Nor is she remotely kind to her sexual partner (Daniel Massey), for all his declarations of love for her. Only in the second half does she show any non-steely emotions. By contrast, Mary tends to be full of life, evoking Elizabeth's jealousy and/or envy. To the latter's credit, she is severely reluctant to bring lethal force into the equation, and when that appears inevitable, she insists on a fully lawful approach.
One way that I'm reminded of AotTD is the semi-sympathetic take on multiple parties. Everyone, including Mary, does things I wouldn't approve, but I recognize how such moves looked more appropriate at the time. Nobody's happy for long, and even the biggest jerks become pitiable.
Might I say, I never expected a film this early to give an unambiguous indication of homosexual intercourse. It's not brazenly depicted or discussed like in The Favourite -- the PG-13 rating fits -- but you'd have to be terribly innocent not to get the gist of what Darnley and courtier Riccio (Ian Holm) are up to before becoming rivals for Mary's attention. This is one example of the makers playing fast and loose with history, tho it's hardly Braveheart bad that way.
A 128-minute runtime doesn't feel very long to me anymore, but I felt obliged to add the "epic" tagline because of the orchestral overture and intermission. As epics go, it's pretty tight, with various skips that manage not to come across as abrupt. I never wished things would hurry along.
MQoS gets moderately mixed reviews, as not everyone finds it very engaging on a mental or visceral level. Me, I wouldn't have asked for more. It's got intrigue, moral quandaries, tragedies, fine acting, and some nice audiovisual aspects. If only Jarrott knew how to keep up his momentum from the double whammy.
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