Queen of the Desert (2015)

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog (screenplay)

Stars:

Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Robert Pattinson

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicole Kidman	...	Gertrude Bell
James Franco	...	Henry Cadogan
Robert Pattinson	...	T.E. Lawrence
Damian Lewis	...	Richard Wylie
Jay Abdo	...	Fattuh
Jenny Agutter	...	Florance Bell
David Calder	...	Hugh Bell
Christopher Fulford	...	Winston Churchill
Nick Waring	...	Sir Mark Sykes
Holly Earl	...	Florence Lascelles
Mark Lewis Jones	...	Lascelles
Beth Goddard	...	Aunt Lascelles
Michael Jenn	...	Thompson
William Ellis	...	Early of Chester
John Wark	...	Arnold Runcie

Storyline

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

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Plot Keywords:

englishwoman | bedouin | world war one | arabian desert | ottoman empire | 

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Taglines:

One woman can change the course of history

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief nudity and some thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Germany]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic Turkish French

Release Date:

14 April 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kraljica pustinje

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Benaroya Pictures,H Films,Raslan Company of America

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min 110 min (re-cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (5.1)

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Pattinson's character was previously Colonel T.E. Lawrence portrayed by Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) released around 53 years earlier.

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Goofs

When Gertrude return from riding with the 3rd secretary she is surprised by her cousin in a roman that would be lit at night by downlights. Really? Just when were they invented!.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sir Mark Sykes: [stadning at a map] Assuming become Ottoman Empire finally becomes defunct, Russia would get the Dardanelles, the portion closest to them, and the Italians the islands off the mainland.
Winston Churchill: And the French had no problem with that?
Charles Doughty-Wylie: The French have a problem with anything. That's their nature.

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Crazy Credits

The credits are shown over footage of sand blowing across the desert.

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Alternate Versions

A new cut with a running time of 110 minutes was presented at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Nov.8 2015. The original version, which premiered in Feb. 2015 at the Berlinale and was released in some countries, has a running time of 128 minutes.

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Connections

References Gallipoli (1981)

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Soundtracks

Violin Concerto No 3 a la Rossi
Written by Ken Stange
Performed by Sourcerer

User Reviews

Queen of Drivel

What a massive disappointment from Herzog. Before this I was a huge Herzog fan, which is why this film is such a bizarre shock. It was as though Werner Herzog had suddenly become a pupil of Josh Boone, which is like Mozart taking lessons from Justin Bieber. Is this some kind of joke?

Sadly not. This is an over long, melodramatic, corny idealisation of an aristocratic woman who, having no real responsibilities in life, decides to use her vast wealth to embark on a life long holiday across the desert, because really what else is she do with her time?

Throughout the film the main character is idealised, swooned over, worshipped and deferred to. Why? Not because she belongs to the most privileged and powerful class of women on the planet, but because she has a courageous heart and a deep, enigmatic understanding of Arabs.

At the end we have some childish moralising about the injustice of the British empire, aptly spoken from one aristocrat to another (without a lick of irony) and then the 'Queen' of the upper classes rides off into the desert to be immortalised as a female idol for generations to come. Not that she actually did anything to help anyone whatsoever.

Poorly acted, poorly written, poorly conceptualised and thoroughly boring.