Mary Queen
of Scots based on the book by John Guy
Eight out
of 10
After seeing
The Favourite, nominated for an astounding ten Academy Awards – albeit it seems
not a Favorite in the most important categories at the bookies that are good at
predicting what happens tomorrow night – we speak on Saturday 23rd –
it is difficult to know how accurate Mary of the Scots is in historical terms.
Evidently,
a motion picture is not a documentary and therefore artistic license is supposed
to change things, create dialogues and scenes that may have never taken place
expect in the imagination of the scriptwriters, but for this cinephile it is most
often important, at least for a historical drama to have a sense that it is not
all a phantasmagoria, unless we are speaking of History of the World, where Mel
Brooks can have stereo speakers blasting near the Roman Senate, sometime before
our era.
The gruesome,
horrifying end of Mary Queen of Scots is enough to feel pity – if that is the
right word, for Milan Kundera mentions in The Unbearable Lightness of being the
fact that pity refers to somebody who is somewhat lower than we are, while
compassion implies a rather equal status – for her.
Nonetheless,
if there is one thing that we get from this new look at the famous martyr, it
would be that she was extraordinarily proud, brave, majestic, a mantra that is printed
on the poster of the film:
“Bow To No
One”
One of the
other main themes of the narrative seems a bit harder to process, for at least
for this viewer it seems to suggest – if not affirm with conviction, for the
book on which the script is based is titled Queen of Scots: The True Life of
Mary Stuart – which obviously means that the author and makers of the
production strongly believe in this rendering of the historical chapter.
That important
idea, which is also on the poster, with the two Academy Award Nominees – for other,
different motion pictures – Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie photographed
together- presents a very strong bond between the two Queens, the English and
the Scottish.
Throughout this
version of events, the two great leaders clash, but there is another, maybe
more important truth behind the scenes, which would be that Elizabeth I aka the
marvelous Margot Robbie was very often in awe with her relative and the
courtiers, advisers were the ones who pushed for a conflict and finally a
rupture, a separation between the two heroines.
Mary Stuart
appears as the stronger leader for much of the film – there is no spoiler alert
when the ending is well known to everyone with the downfall and the ultimate
success of the Queen of England is mentioned – although her circumstances are
less favorable to say the least.
Sent to
France at the age of fifteen, he marries and becomes a widow only three years
later, when upon returning to Scotland she finds her half-brother James
Stewart, Earl of Moray as leader – a man with whom she has a tumultuous,
conflicting relationship that would usurp – if that is correct- it certainly is
from the point of view of some Scottish nationalists, if not all – her power.
For a
while, the two are getting along, but then events would change that – some occurrences
are baffling and probably based on documents, letters but it is surely
impossible to say for sure – we can wonder what the estimations would be…40%
chances that this really happened? – that there were gay courtiers, one of them
had an affair with Henry Stuart Lord Darnley and then was killed with multiple knife
stabbings under the eyes of his queen.
The advisers
of Elizabeth I, William Cecil aka Guy Pearce and Lord Randolph aka Adrian
Lester, are always concerned about Mary of the Scots and when she wants to
marry a second time – allowed in theory because she was told she could marry,
but to an English noble – Lord Darnley they oppose this strategic move, because
they think the two of them would have more of a claim to the English throne and
therefore scheme to have the Scottish queen defeated.
They want
to fight a civil war, saying that if it is not happening in Scotland it would
be in England, they support a faction led by the Earl of Moray that would
confront the supporters of Mary and alas, there are others scheming to get the
power, one of them being the father of Henry Stuart, who makes his own son sign
a document which may be the prove that he was a traitor – in this telling of
history, Mary is determined to have a heir to the throne – given that Elizabeth
has not married and it is obvious, due to her age, that she would never have a
child.
Indeed, her
son, James, would become the king of both England and Scotland and the first to
have the two realms under his rule, but his conception seems to have been a
hard fought battle – if we believe the perspective of this film – wherein Mary is
practically fighting her – bisexual or gay - husband to have a coitus that he
does not want and when he rejects her, looks away, she tells him to close his
eyes and think of his gay lover, then beats his chest and in the consequent
struggle – perhaps Lord Darnley was also a sadist – he slaps her hard and then
gets more interested to see this as a struggle and does his duty so to say.
Mary Queen
of Scots is a formidable film, more than worth watching, in the opinion of this
cinephile it is better than Oscar contenders – the Academy awards for Best
Leading Actress seems to be going to Glenn Close but Saoirse Ronan is just as
good, if not better and the whole film is superior to both Black Panther and A
star is Born – if you ask this viewer.
As for the
historical facts, you could read this article:
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