Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,340
1,650
113
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is a new British movie to be released on 2nd November. Based on a true story, it is an exploration of the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and the adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh. Using amazing special effects, the film also shows the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the Royal Navy in 1588, an Armada sent to invade England by the King Philip II of Spain, after the Queen roused her troops before the battle by her famous speech at Tilbury. Cate Blanchestt plays Queen Elizabeth. Samantha Morton plays the Queen of Scotland (Mary, Queen of Scots) who was Queen Elizabeth I's cousin. Written by William Nicholson and Michael Hirst and produced by Working Title Films, The Golden Age is directed by Shekhar Kapur. The film has music composed by Craig Armstrong and A. R. Rahman.

It was filmed at Shepperton Studios, London and various locations around the UK. Guy Hendrix Dyas was the production designer and the costumes were created by Alexandra Byrne.
The film premiered September 9, 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on October 12, 2007. It will premiere in London on October 23, 2007 and will open November 2, 2007 in the United Kingdom.[1]



Back in 1558, Philip II of Spain’s second wife, Mary I of England – “Bloody Mary" – had died (Bloody Mary was Queen Elizabeth I's sister. She was so named as she was a Catholic Queen of England despite England being a Protestant nation, and she executed 300 of her Protestant fellow citizens during her reign). They had wed in July 1554, a year after Mary’s accession to the English throne, but the English Parliament had refused to crown him jointly with Mary so he had little power in England. On Mary’s death he had then tried unsuccessfully to persuade her sister and successor, Elizabeth, to marry him.

Plot


The film opens in 1585; Roman Catholic Spain is the most powerful country in Europe (and probably the world), with King Philip II on her throne. Seeing Protestant England as a threat as well as in retaliation for England's constant piracy of Spanish ships, Philip intends to make war on his long-time enemy in order to take over the land that is now England and add it to what is already Spain, making his daughter Isabella Queen of England.

Meanwhile, in England, Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) is still being pressured to marry by her advisor, Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush). She is aging in years (she was actually born in 1533) and, with no child, the throne will pass to her next of kin, her second cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. The Queen is presented with many portraits of crowned heads of Europe and princes; these include Ivan the Terrible, Erik of Sweden, an Archduke of Austria and a French prince. As always, Elizabeth refuses to take someone's hand in marriage, particularly that of the young Austrian archduke who has become infatuated with the Queen.

Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) is presented at Elizabeth's court, having returned from the New World, and offers her some of the New World's riches: potatoes, tobacco, and two Native Americans. Raleigh also offers her gold from Spanish ships that he claims could not carry them, but the Spanish ambassadors who are present protest that Raleigh is a pirate and should not be welcomed. Elizabeth commands that the Native Americans should be treated well, but refuses to accept the gold.

Elizabeth quickly finds Raleigh attractive. She becomes enamoured of Raleigh's tales of high-seas adventure and asks Elizabeth Throckmorton (Abbie Cornish), her most favoured lady-in-waiting, to observe him. Bess also finds Raleigh an attractive man and secretly begins an affair with the explorer.

Elizabeth meanwhile seeks guidance and advice from John Dee who predicts that two empires will go to war. However, he cannot predict which will triumph over the other, leaving Elizabeth to ponder her fate.

Meanwhile, a Jesuit group in London conspires with Philip to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her on the throne with Mary, Queen of Scots in what is referred to between Philip and the group as "The English Enterprise", and is known to history as the Babington Plot. Mary sends secret correspondence from her prison in Scotland to the Jesuits, who recruit Anthony Babington to assassinate Elizabeth.
Walsingham constantly warns Elizabeth of Spain's rising power and of Catholic plots against her life.

However she, unlike her predecessor and sister “Bloody” Mary, does not force her people (half of whom remain loyal to Catholicism) to share her Protestant beliefs. Even then, those conspiring against Elizabeth are being hunted and murdered, including Bess's cousin, whom she tries to protect but fails to do so. After learning of her cousin's death, Bess turns to Raleigh for comfort. The barely hidden closeness of Bess and Raleigh causes tension between Elizabeth and Raleigh to mount, testing her desire to keep him in England and increasing his desire to go back to the New World.

Walsingham's brother is a Papist who knows of the plot against Elizabeth. It is revealed, though, that Walsingham had known of the plot all along, intercepting letters, and his brother is jailed. He reveals the plot to Elizabeth, who angrily confronts the Spanish diplomats. The top ambassador (Ivan the Terrible) feigns ignorance and accuses Elizabeth of recieving Spanish gold from pirates and insinuating a sexual relationship with Raleigh. She throws them out of court promising to 'strip Spain bare' if Philip attempts to attack England. Meanwhile, Philip is cutting the forests of Spain to build The Spanish Armada in order to do so.

Mary, Queen of Scots writes a letter condoning the plot. Anthony Babington storms into a cathedral where Elizabeth is praying and points a gun at her. Elizabeth opens her arms, seemingly fearless. He pulls the trigger, and the Queen falls. It is later revealed by the traitor in the torture chamber that there was no bullet in the gun.

Elizabeth learns of Mary's involvement and Walsingham insists she be executed to quell any English Catholic revolt. Elizabeth is reluctant, but nevertheless Mary is tried for high treason. Mary ascends the block in a blood-red dress, symbolic of Catholic martyrs. She is beheaded on February 8, 1587.

This officially puts the war with Spain in motion. Philip tries to get approval from the Pope to declare war. The Pope and other Catholic leaders regard Mary as the true Queen of England so Philip was given the just cause of avenging the queen's death and overthrowing Elizabeth's court.

In England, Elizabeth forbids Raleigh from returning to the New World instead knighting him and making him Head of the Queen's Guard. Bess discovers she is pregnant with Raleigh's child and after telling him the news, she pleads him to leave. He chooses not to and the couple marry in secret; at the same time, Elizabeth awakes during a dream as the wedding is taking place. She confronts Bess a few weeks later, who confesses that she is indeed pregnant with her husband's child. An enraged Elizabeth confronts her, reminding Bess that she cannot marry without royal consent. Feeling betrayed, the queen banishes Bess from court and has Raleigh imprisoned for seducing a ward of the Queen. At the same time, Walsingham arranges for his brother, William, who is eleven years Francis' junior, to leave for France on the condition that he never returning to England.

The Spanish Armada begins its approach across the English Channel, and Elizabeth sets out on the coast in battle armour to rally the troops for a ground invasion. She forgives Bess and sets Raleigh free. The Spanish ships vastly outnumber England's, but at the last moment a major storm begins to blow the Armada towards the beaches, potentially wrecking their formation. Dropping anchor, the Armada becomes a sitting duck for English fire ships. Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake set their ships on fire and direct their sails to steer into the heart of the fleet while abandoning ship. Elizabeth, back at her coastal headquarters, walks out to the cliffs and watches the Spanish Armada sink in flames.

Philip's plan is shattered, and the Spanish naval fleet suffers their most humiliating loss in history.

As the film ends, Elizabeth visits Walsingham on his deathbed, telling her old friend to rest. She then visits Raleigh and Bess and blesses their child, presumably Damerei. Elizabeth seemingly triumphs personally through her ordeal, consigning herself to being a Virgin Queen but a mother to the English people.


Jordi Mollà... King Philip ll of Spain
Aimee King... Infanta
Cate Blanchett... Queen Elizabeth I
John Shrapnel... Lord Howard
Geoffrey Rush... Sir Francis Walsingham
Susan Lynch... Annette
Elise McCave... Laundry Woman
Samantha Morton... Mary Stuart
Abbie Cornish... Elizabeth Throckmorton
Penelope McGhie... Margaret
Rhys Ifans... Robert Reston
Eddie Redmayne... Thomas Babington
Stuart McLoughlin... Savage
Clive Owen... Sir Walter Raleigh
Adrian Scarborough... Calley


Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Cate Blanchett


Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Cate Blanchett

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Samantha Morton plays the Catholic Queen of Scotland - Mary, Queen of Scots. She was Elizabeth's cousin but tried to murder Elizabeth so she could take the the Throne of England. She was beheaded in 1587.




Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Queen Elizabeth I was the Warrior Queen of England, famous for defeating the Spanish, the most powerful country in the world at that time


Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - The Queen with Sir Francis Walsingham, her spy



Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Sir Walter Raleigh



Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Elizabeth I and Elizabeth Throckmorton, Sir Walter Raleigh's second wife

www.imdb.com
 
Last edited: