Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by The Panda, Dec 7, 2018.

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  1. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    We're on the fence about this, so I thought I'd start a thread to get some opinions.

    Also, I'm sure some people here know the historical facts well, and I'd like to hear how much of the film is made up.

     
  2. Whizz Kid

    Whizz Kid Forum Resident

    I'll probably see this... I am a Scottish history buff... but this story has been told multiple times on film already.

    There was the first one in 1927... then again in 1936 with Katherine Hepburn.
    The last one was only just in 2013... can't they wait a decade at least !?

    [​IMG]

    The definitive Oscar-winning version will always be Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson in 1971.

    [​IMG]

    I'm guessing this new one will just be an excuse for more nudity and gory CGI-generated battle scenes.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2018
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  3. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

  4. townsend

    townsend Senior Member

    Location:
    Ridgway, CO
    I already want to see this, regardless of historical worth. I always like movies about European rulers and courts from he sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
     
  5. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    I think "The Favourite" might be up your ally...
     
  6. townsend

    townsend Senior Member

    Location:
    Ridgway, CO
    It is in my Netflix DVD queue -- hope Netflix carries it.
     
  7. The Hermit

    The Hermit Wavin' that magick glowstick since 1976

    Just a couple thoughts;

    * Mary would not have spoken with a Scottish accent; she was brought up in the royal French court since childhood so would have sounded heavily Gallic rather than Gaelic.

    * Judging by that trailer, she's talking in person with Elizabeth I, but both women never met in real-life, even when Mary was imprisoned in England for 19 years.

    * I understand some stories in history will be endlessly retold on stage, screen, and literature to suit the times they're made in (so I'm betting dollars to donuts this version will be all heroic feminism against moustache-twirling misogyny... boo, hiss, yawn!); such is life, but I'm just not feeling it with this movie, I predict it will rightly sink without trace and be forgotten by Christmas... if you want to see this genuinely fascinating historical period told well, with genuine poignancy, and an exploration of actual facts alongside some great dramatic acting, the BBC documentary Bloody Queens is a dazzling piece of work, and features what I consider the best onscreen Elizabeth to date;

     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2018
  8. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    And yet it seems they're usually shown meeting, aren't they? I think in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007) where Samantha Morton played Mary, they met. And Mary had a Scottish accent. I can't remember for sure if they were shown meeting in the HBO mini-series "Elizabeth I" where Helen Mirren played the queen.

    I'll try and watch the one you suggested.
     
  9. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    Although historically inaccurate I thoroughly enjoyed this film and Saoirse Ronan it remarkable but doesn't eclipse Margot Robbie's Elizabeth.

    This biggest falsehood is the meeting but much like Churchill's bus journey it encapsulates the essence of the story and here the complex relationship between 2 God chosen Queens and is therefore OK to my mind.
     
  10. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    I thought the movie was junk. I'm a big Saoirse Ronan fan, but this was a let down. Aside from the historical inaccuracies, which go beyond the made up meeting, it was just boring.
     
  11. Antmanbee

    Antmanbee Mental Toss Flycoon

    Location:
    Leicester, UK
    I saw this and The Favourite over the same weekend. I enjoyed the latter film much more. Mary, Queen of Scots felt like a theatre piece adapted to cinema, and I believe both writer/s and director come from theatre, and it's characteristic of theatre productions to try and force-fit contemporary relevance and present-day concerns into the text and onto the stage, and that what seemed to be happening here.
    I shall buy The Favourite BluRay for my collection, but not Mary, Queen of Scots.
     
  12. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    I like Saoirse Ronan too, but this was a mediocre costume drama, I agree.
     
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  13. townsend

    townsend Senior Member

    Location:
    Ridgway, CO
    I haven't seen both, but I just saw The Favourite (Netflix DVD plan), and it was really good. Also on the DVD, the brief documentary on the movie is excellent. The Favourite is chock full of clever dialogue, some of which is wickedly funny. It could just as well have been titled The Rivalry. I highly recommend it.
     
    Antmanbee likes this.
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