Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Directed by: Josie Rourke | 124 minutes | biography, drama | Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Richard Cant, Thom Petty, Izuka Hoyle, Maria Dragus, Eileen O’Higgins, Liah O’Prey, Greg Miller Burns, Aneurin Pascoe, Adrian Derrick-Palmer, Martin Compston, James McArdle, Kal Sabir

Mary Stuart’s short and intense life is great fodder for filmmakers. Her three tumultuous marriages, numerous affairs and a tragic death initiated by her cousin Elizabeth I of England provide enough drama for a complete series. It’s almost too much to fit into a two-hour movie. Director Josie Rourke – best known as the first female artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse Theater in London and director of several major stage productions on the West End and Broadway – dared to make her feature film debut with ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ (2018). By focusing on the recognizable story of two women – Mary and Elizabeth – who try to stand up in a world where it’s the men who pull the strings, she tries to make sixteenth-century intrigues palatable to twenty-first-century audiences. . The fact that she here and there twists, simplifies or omits historical facts, we classify as ‘artistic freedom’.

Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) is only eighteen when she returns from France as a widow in 1561 to take the throne in Scotland. But besides the Scottish throne, she also lays claim to the English throne because of her descent. At least, as long as her cousin Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) doesn’t produce a descendant. But first he has to find a suitable man. Of greater importance is the fact that Mary is a Catholic on a Protestant island; that makes her a huge threat. Even her own councillors, including her half-brother James Murray (James McArdle), see her appointment with dismay. The Puritan Scots, led by John Knox (David Tennant), additionally fall for the fact that she is a woman; they have no intention of dancing to the tune of a female ruler. And Elizabeth has no intention of making it easy for the younger, beautiful Mary. Though aware of the danger she faces, Mary doesn’t seem to pick the best people to surround herself with. Her second husband, the charming but unreliable Lord Darnley (Jack Lowden), quickly disappoints her and husband number three, Bothwell (Martin Compston), may seem loyal, but turns out to be loose again.

Anyone who has a little knowledge of history knows how the story ends. So it’s mainly about the road to that inevitable climax. Rourke mainly focuses on how the two women, who should really be enemies, are more alike and have more in common than they’d like to admit. Both are women at the top of power, and both are surrounded by men who don’t take them seriously or try to manipulate them in such a way that they benefit themselves. And then there is the eternal pressure on the shoulders of women in royal families: an heir to the throne must be born, preferably a male one. Ronan and Robbie play their roles with gusto and give depth to their characters. We know Mary Stuart as a free spirit and in this film she also believes in freedom of religion and the power of love. But she is also ambitious enough to command respect from her subjects and so naive that she inflicts much of the suffering on her own. Robbie’s touchy and calculating Elizabeth is on a collision course with her niece, who on the one hand is the only one who fully understands her, and on the other turns out to be her biggest rival.

‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ looks like a charm, with a lot of eye for composition and use of color and lavish costumes. The biggest flaw is the screenplay. It is based on the biography ‘Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart’ by historian John Guy, scripted by Beau Willimon. We mainly know the latter from his contribution to the ‘House of Cards’ series. So he is used to spreading the intrigue over several episodes and several seasons. Here, he crams it all into a two-hour film, causing events to fight for preeminence and ultimately to perish. The political games that are being played are complicated enough in themselves. Moreover, the big confrontation between the two divas, the moment we look forward to throughout the film, is ultimately a forced-looking anticlimax. Fortunately, Ronan, Robbie and the other cast members, with their strong playing, manage to draw us enough into this modern adaptation of the historical life story of Mary Stuart to forgive the film for these slips.