Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

A mature Queen Elizabeth endures multiple crises late in her reign including court intrigues, an assassination plot, the Spanish Armada, and romantic disappointments.

Director:

Shekhar Kapur

Writers:

William Nicholson, Michael Hirst

Stars:

Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 29 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jordi Mollà	...	King Philip ll of Spain
Aimee King	...	Infanta
Cate Blanchett	...	Queen Elizabeth I
Laurence Fox	...	Sir Christopher Hatton
John Shrapnel	...	Lord Howard
Geoffrey Rush	...	Sir Francis Walsingham
Susan Lynch	...	Annette
Elise McCave	...	Laundry Woman
Samantha Morton	...	Mary Stuart
Abbie Cornish	...	Bess Throckmorton
Penelope McGhie	...	Margaret
Rhys Ifans	...	Robert Reston
Eddie Redmayne	...	Thomas Babington
Stuart McLoughlin	...	Savage
Clive Owen	...	Sir Walter Raleigh

Storyline

Two faiths, two empires, two rulers - colliding in 1588. Papist Spain wants to bring down the heretic Elizabeth. Philip is building an armada but needs a rationale to attack. With covert intrigue, Spain sets a trap for the Queen and her principal secretary, Walsingham, using as a pawn Elizabeth's cousin Mary Stuart, who's under house arrest in the North. The trap springs, and the armada sets sail, to rendezvous with French ground forces and to attack. During these months, the Virgin Queen falls in love with Walter Raleigh, keeping him close to court and away from the sea and America. Is treachery or heroism at his heart? Does loneliness await her passionate majesty?

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Plot Keywords:

elizabeth i character | queen | spain | intrigue | court | 

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Taglines:

Woman. Warrior. Queen.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, some sexuality and nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Studio Canal [France]

Country:

UK France Germany USA

Language:

English Spanish Swedish

Release Date:

12 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Filming Locations:

Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,153,075, 14 October 2007, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$16,285,240

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$74,870,866

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,StudioCanal,Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All through the story Elizabeth wears wigs. In the pre-battle scene at 1h 28m she is seen to be wearing the hair of a peasant or lower class woman, a World away from the hair of a monarch. The fine suit of armour however, gives the whole game away. Only the much higher classes could afford such.

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Goofs

Elizabeth's sidesaddle is shown to have two horns, or "pommels." Sidesaddles of this time had only one pommel, the upper, which held the right leg in place. The lower pommel, which wraps over the left leg, is called a "leaping pommel," and was not invented until the 1830s.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title Card: 1585
Title Card: Spain is the most powerful empire in the world. Philip of Spain, a devout Catholic, has plunged Europe into holy war. Only England stands against him, ruled by a Protestant Queen.

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Connections

Edited from Elizabeth (1998)

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Soundtracks

Coronation Banquet
Written by David Hirschfelder
Conducted by David Hirschfelder, Ric Formosa and Sam Schwarz (as Sam Schwarz)
Courtesy of Universal Studios

User Reviews

Elizabeth: Die Hard With a Vengeance

This rates as high as it does for me because of the cinematography. It is dazzling and Blanchett can't be denied, but "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is like a chick-flick with explosions plus costumes, super hair, and loud, intrusive music. The result is faux epic.

My wife summed it up well as we left the theater: "I feel like I've just flipped through a coffee table picture book for two hours and somebody turned up the stereo." History wrote this plot but Nicholson and Hirst thought they could do better. They couldn't, or certainly didn't. Freshmen composition classes come up with better stuff. Trite, forced, predictable. Did they even run this by an expert in English history? You gotta wonder. The script is oozing with 21st century mores and clichés. It made me think (during the movie, mind you) of the way Dutch painters depicted Homer and Aristotle in the garb of 17th century Holland. Are we that dumb? Sir Walter Raleigh is a caricature and Sir Francis Drake, never properly introduced, was a throwaway. Geoffrey Rush is wasted as Walsingham. Come to think of it, nearly everybody is wasted. Every single character is underdeveloped, with the possible exception of the title character—possible exception.

"Golden Age" set the target high and then turned and fired in the opposite direction. Realizing the script had missed, Director tried to make up for it with window dressing. Substance would have served this queen better. With the colon in the title, I almost expected to see Bruce Willis saving the day.

You can see why "Golden Age" came out in October because it's not going to compete for Oscars in categories that anybody cares about. With all the budget they had for this movie, you'd Universal could have found better writers.