Director: Shekhar Kapur
Editor: Jill Billcock
Composer: David Hirschfelder
Cinematographer: Remi Adefarasin
Writer: Michael Hirst
Elizabeth I: Cate Blanchett
Sir Francis Walsingham: Geoffrey Rush
Lord Robert Dudley: Joseph Fiennes
Duke of Norfolk: Christopher Eccleston
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Passion, Politics and Parochialism - Quite a mixture!
Well in this case the Passion and Politics belong to the times of Tudor England, the Parochialism is purely my own. When Australian star in an international film, I just have to review it.
"Elizabeth", which opened across Australia on October 22, is the latest offering from Working Title Productions who brought us, amongst other films, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" - the f1lm that started Hugh Grant on the road to stardom. "Elizabeth" may well do the same for our own Cate Blanchett.
Blanchett plays Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII - he of the many wives. Instead of detailing the history of her reign, as did the 1971 TV mini-series "Elizabeth R" starred Glenda Jackson, the 1998 film focuses on the young Elizabeth.
We see the young woman and her childhood friend Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) enjoying life and love.
We see her stoically withstand the horrors of the tower and the constant questioning which seeks to have her admit to treason against the Queen, Mary, her half sister;
We see the splendour and pageantry of her coronation at the age of 24;
Enter Sir Francis Walsingham - Australia's own Academy Award winning, Geoffery Rush - the wily political tactician and chosen advisor to the new Queen.
Blanchett brings an extraordinary blend of vulnerability and strength to her role, bringing Elizabeth to life as a woman caught between love and survival in a turbulent time. Rush creates Walsingham as a powerful presence, a dark and brooding guardian angel to the Queen.
And the Australian connection doesn't end there. The Editor is Jill Billcock ("Strictly Ballroom") and the Composer is David Hirschfelder, best known for "Shine".
With a uniformly excellent cast, "Elizabeth" is a film of passion and intrigue, love and betrayal. It looks great and offers and an energetic insight into an exciting period of British history. It is not simply a re-creation of a past time, but rather a 90s interpretation of the characters and events so that they come alive for a contemporary audience.
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