Just saw Manohla Dargis's review of 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' in the
New York Times. Here's a sample:
"A kitsch extravaganza aquiver with trembling bosoms, booming guns and
wild energy, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
<http://movies.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=335198&inline=nyt_ttl>
tells, if more often shouts, the story of the bastard monarch who ruled
England with an iron grip and two tightly closed legs. It’s the story of
a woman, who, as played by the irresistibly watchable Cate Blanchett
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/215038/Cate-Blanchett?inline=nyt-per>
as David Bowie
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/82636/David-Bowie?inline=nyt-per> in
his Ziggy Stardust period, sublimated her libidinal energies through
court intrigue until she found sweet relief by violently bringing the
Spanish Empire to its knees."
"But that’s getting ahead of this story, which begins in 1585 when Queen
Elizabeth hit 52, though the film seems to put her closer to 38, Ms.
Blanchett’s actual age. The blurring of fact and fancy is, of course,
routine with this kind of opulent big-screen production, in which the
finer points of history largely take a back seat to personal melodrama
and lavish details of production design and costumes. In this regard
“The Golden Age”
<http://movies.nytimes.com/gst/movies/titlelist.html?v_idlist=332151;335198&inline=nyt_ttl>
may set a standard for such an adulterated form: it’s reductive,
distorted and deliriously far-fetched, but the gowns are fabulous, the
wigs are a sight and Clive Owen
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/54491/Clive-Owen?inline=nyt-per> makes
a dandy Errol Flynn
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/90030/Errol-Flynn?inline=nyt-per>,
even if he’s really meant to be Walter Raleigh, the queen’s favorite
smoldering slab of man meat."
Remainder at NYTimes (free subscription may be required):
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/movies/12gold.html?th&emc=th
Judging by the picture that accompanies the article (a heavy purple
moire gown cut beautifully but lacking any decoration), the reviewer is
spot-on. The costumes are certainly fabulous. Historically
accurate....well...what do we expect??
- Hope
--------------
[EMAIL PROTECTED], Academic Computing, U of Vermont
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