“We have a scourge upon our land. Tis a woman with a crown.” – John Knox
Number of Times Seen – 1 (20 Feb 2019)
Brief Synopsis – Queen Elizabeth and her cousin Mary fight over the thrown of England as they both try to outmaneuver the other politically.
My Take on it – This is a film that I’ve been interested in seeing ever since I heard about months ago.
This is largely due to the fact that I knew that it has two very powerful actresses playing the two main parts; Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.
The overall premise is quite a good one, but it gets lost in the shuffle because they (rightfully) try to keep the story balanced about both sides and in the process neither side is developed well enough which turns out to be worse than having it more one-sided.
The two leading ladies both do wonderful jobs with these roles and I’m a bit shocked that nether got more love during awards season despite the very full list of actresses who gave stunning performances this year in both lead and supporting roles.
They do a nice job here showing how much politics is involved in the choices made in England at this time.
They turn this story into a battle of wits between these two cousins who are both quite different in many ways yet in more ways than that they have such similar views on things.
The story itself drags a bit too much at certain points because it fails to utilize that time to develop the characters on a deeper level and might have benefited by being cut down a bit.
Bottom Line – Interesting idea that gets lost in the shuffle because they try much to hard to keep the stories balanced which hurts any impact. Ronan and Robbie are both great on these roles and despite crowded fields of Best Actresses this year, I’m surprised neither was given a nomination in either the lead or supporting categories. The way that this film shows how politics played such a large role in the choices made in England is interesting to watch because it’s basically a battle of wits between these two women who were so very different in some ways but very similar in even more ways. The story drags a bit too much at certain points and would probably have been more engaging if it had been slightly cut down.
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Both Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie rehearsed separately. Their scenes were filmed separately, Robbie’s being completed the very day Ronan began hers. The first time that both actresses actually saw each other in character was during the pivotal scene where both met for the first time. (From IMDB)
Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)
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MovieRob 
The 2 Queens actually never met face to face in real life, but every writer who set out to tell the story decided that they needed to imagine a scene where they did meet.So knowing that going in – and the fact that they share only that single scene together – not sure the necessity of keeping the actresses apart on set. I agree that both were superb and I am also shocked that other than a supporting nomination for Robbie at one of the awards shows – nothing. With Saoirse being an Academy darling I have no idea (and said it all through Oscar season) why she was not nominated ahead of Aparicio for Roma and Glenn Close of First Wife. Or why Robbie didn’t get nominated ahead of de Taveira for Roma.
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