Reviews

First the good thing: This is a beautiful movie with beautiful costumes and beautiful cinematography. There were some scenes that I appreciated a lot for how they were shot and how they managed to get a certain emotion across. That being said, I did not like the narrative they were trying to push.

First of, I think what many people noted is that they were trying to be very inclusive in this movie. They tried to include people of colour and of different sexual/gender identities. In general, that is obviously important but it did feel as if they only did it so that they could shove it into the faces of critics. I think the point people miss that this is still essentially a story about white people. If you want to argue that there are not enough POC characters in a movie, why not stop making movies about white people?

Which brings me to they way they portrayed Mary Stuart. What I did like is that they showed Mary and Elizabeth as contrasting characters: Mary's downfall was that she was too passionate, Elizabeth's that she was not passionate enough.

What I didn't like is that they put worth on their actions. The focus was on Mary who I believe I was supposed to admire for being so outspoken or whatever. To me she came off as arrogant and self-righteous and I constantly found myself empathising with more Elizabeth, who was portrayed as more and more pitiful, but at least I could understand her motivation. Mary Stuart to me was a Mary Sue, whose biggest flaw was that She Was Too Bold!

Also, something I will never understand is the casting choice. Why choose an Irish and an Australian actress? If you already make bold choices like that, why not choose a French actress to play Mary? A French accent would have made more sense than the "Scottish" one we got to hear.

Again, I do not hate the movie because there were moment I liked, but in retrospect I think that the majority of those moments featured Elizabeth and I'm pretty sure that wasn't the point.