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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

Based on the true story of one woman who defied an empire.

---

Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief nudity and some thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Germany]

Country:

USA Morocco

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 jumped at the chance of working with Werner Herzog, even though his part in the film is actually quite small.

---

Goofs

The film starts in 1914, then moves to "12 years earlier" so 1902. In one scene a toast is raised to Queen Victoria, suggesting that she should visit. Queen Victoria died in 1901.

---

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.

---

Crazy Credits

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

---

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.

---

Connections

References Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

---

Soundtracks

Les Nubiemes Valse
from the ballet "Faust"
Written by Charles Gounod
Performed by Vaughan Jones and The Manor House String Ensemble

User Reviews

Nicole Kidman Dream Portion

Film Review: "Queen of the Desert" (2015)

Working with major Hollywood stars on a frequent basis since 2005 with directing Christian Bale through "Rescue Dawn" (2006), confronting Nicolas Cage with inner demons in "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (2009) and given the antagonist "The Zec" for Tom Cruise's interpreted character of "Jack Reacher" (2012), Director Werner Herzog collaborates with actress Nicole Kidman to make her a living goddess by using the chronicles of real-life character Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) to find poetic beginnings and a roundup ending for a passionate picture of a woman connecting to her inner state within nature. The director loses all the ongoing hooks and suspense twists in between, especially due to a miscast actor James Franco as Gertrude Bell's love-interest Henry Cadogan, leaving Nicole Kidman struggling through an early 2014 shooting period, which she, due to her professionalism and decades of filmmaking experience, resolved for herself by wrap time, leaving the much-more documentary solid director Werner Herzog with another unbalanced motion picture narration of missed opportunities.

© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)