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 6 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jordi Mollà	...	King Philip ll of Spain (as Jordi Molla)
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 | female ruler | female monarch | queen of england | queen | 

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Taglines:

Blanchett returns in the role for which she received an OSCAR nomination

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mary, Queen of Scots was not originally part of the Babington conspiracy. Sir Francis Walsingham, who wanted an excuse to have her convicted of a capital crime, got one of the conspirators to act as a double agent and entrap her.

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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

Featured in At the Movies: Elizabeth: The Golden Age/Lars and the Real Girl/Sleuth/We Own the Night/My Kid Could Paint That (2007)

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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

The woman and the queen

With a view clearly centered on the woman behind the figure of the queen, "Elizabeth" is a passionate portrait of the XVI century. The court, the costumes, the social hierarchy and procedures are thoroughly depicted showing both the richness and darkness of the time.

The queen (Cate Blanchett) is the main character, showed intimately, almost striped before our eyes. She starts as a monarch and with the pose one would expect from her. And yet soon we see that there is something more to that persona: the loneliness, the sense of duty with the lack of freedom it implies, the desire to love and simply be loved in return; to be loved by what she really his and only that.

As she lowers her defenses and allows Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), a charming pirate with news of a world she has never seen, to come close, we could almost say she was only a woman during that time; no title, no obligations, pure will to be what she feels like. However the intrigue around the crown rushes in, the plot thickens, and the woman is set aside, giving room for the queen. It is after this, when it comes to the end of the movie, that something changes. Our intimate view of her character is lost and instead there seem's to be a little twist, as the overall feeling of the movie changes to that of an epic. In the final shots there's almost a deification of her and it's hard to believe it. And most of all it's less interesting because the woman behind the "queen" is more captivating than the idea of the "queen".

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:

A Stage, Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,153,075, 14 October 2007

Gross USA:

$16,383,509

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$75,782,758

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