I have to admit that despite my being in general a fan of Mirren, my arm had to be twisted into watching yet another Bess biopic. Iconic, captivating, etc. but MERCY. Still, this one is pretty good. The Cate Blanchett inaccuracy-fest was actually more daring, if totally heavy-handed, in vision - the transformation of young woman to icon. But neither that Elizabeth nor this one escapes the tiresome prurient interest of biopics in their subjects. But Mirren invariably exudes so much sharp wit that she makes it believable that this was a person with tremendous political acumen (but for god's sake, barely any mention of SPAIN??) apart from personal love turmoil.
That said, this Elizabeth pic is distinctive in having one of the better-motivated portraits of Essex, so much so that Essex seems to eclipse Leicester in Elizabeth's life (historically questionable, but put to dramatic good use here). Apart from script and Mirren, probably the credit for that goes to the really commendable performance by Dancy especially as the young Essex (though he sort of loses me toward his pre-decap days). Toby Jones also gives a great performance as the younger Cecil, though the portrait is far more sympathetic (milking the modern sensibility/sensitivity to handicap) than the historical Robert Cecil deserves. And needless to say, MIRREN's Elizabeth - spunk with irony and threats. The only weak performance to my mind, surprisingly, was Irons' - completely fulsome, not well-suited to play Dudley the suitor, should have been more the Dudley the ambitious.
That said, this Elizabeth pic is distinctive in having one of the better-motivated portraits of Essex, so much so that Essex seems to eclipse Leicester in Elizabeth's life (historically questionable, but put to dramatic good use here). Apart from script and Mirren, probably the credit for that goes to the really commendable performance by Dancy especially as the young Essex (though he sort of loses me toward his pre-decap days). Toby Jones also gives a great performance as the younger Cecil, though the portrait is far more sympathetic (milking the modern sensibility/sensitivity to handicap) than the historical Robert Cecil deserves. And needless to say, MIRREN's Elizabeth - spunk with irony and threats. The only weak performance to my mind, surprisingly, was Irons' - completely fulsome, not well-suited to play Dudley the suitor, should have been more the Dudley the ambitious.