It’s a well-known fact that Cate Blanchett is a good actress. So it is unnecessary to dramatize her every emotion, pose and expression as is done in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.”
Whether she is stumbling aimlessly through the halls of her palace, ridden with guilt and doubt about her decisions as a monarch, or standing alone in a room of light with eyes closed and head and palms tilted upward toward the sky, wallowing in her own power, there is just far too much focus on the drama. It’s a pity, too, because Blanchett’s Elizabeth is an emotionally intriguing character, though somewhat spoiled by an overly dramatized plot. The queen is strong and independent, but also extremely human, as she suffers the pangs of unreciprocated love and struggles to define her role as the mother of her people. Blanchett’s tears and booming laughter are perfectly placed, and her expressions ““ even the blank ones ““ speak volumes.
When Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) first speaks before the queen, his words are overtly eloquent. She and her ladies-in-waiting look on dreamily, a triumphant melody playing as he describes his lust for adventure and discovery of land at sea. Surprise, surprise: The virgin queen is completely smitten with Raleigh. The filmmakers make it clear that Owen is, first and foremost, a ladies’ man. He also manages to cast his spell over Elizabeth’s favorite lady-in-waiting Bess (Abbie Cornish) and the two become involved in a forbidden affair.
The queen’s struggles are twofold, and similar to those in most other films about authority figures; she suffers from both personal problems and the world beyond the soap opera of palace life. She hungers, almost pathetically, to be loved. In one bizarre scene among others, she forces Raleigh to dance with Bess, as she looks on perversely imagining that she is the one on the dance floor.
The film makes it clear to the point of nausea that she wants to be loved for who she is rather than her monarchal position. The queen actually says something along the lines of “I am me” at the conclusion of the film. It’s a nice message, but one that the filmmakers try too hard to deliver, causing the film and the queen’s persona to lose what little complexity there was to begin with. It is one thing to create a cohesive film that continues to echo the same theme subtly, and quite another to simplify that theme to the point of cliche. The same oversimplification occurs with the queen’s other obstacles involving the bigger picture of her kingdom and those who threaten it.
Throughout the film she struggles to remain strong while the Spanish empire attempts to bring about her downfall. After a few spiffs with the Spanish, Elizabeth dons her armor, and as her horse trots awkwardly before a small group of armed men, she gives an inspirational speech and raises a fist into the air as the crowd cheers. Unfortunately, her words are almost identical to the content of every other start-of-war speech and so while she rallies the troops, she fails to inspire the audience.
And then right when the climax builds to see the queen kicking some butt on the battlefield, she simply talks to some advisers, while Raleigh defends the coast in his ship, swinging from ropes, setting ships on fire, and finally diving into the depths of the ocean in a theatrical slow-motion lunge.
Evidentially, there’s a fine line between good acting and overkill. While Cate Blanchett may succeed as an actress, she is unable to salvage the extravagant plot and stale messages, which cause the film to play out like an episode of a soap opera-like miniseries rather than a historical dramatic film.
““ Paige Parker
E-mail Parker at pparker@media.ucla.edu.