Mary Queen of Scots
At this point, it’s difficult to look at period pieces as anything other than acting exercises for performers to play larger-than-life roles to get them Oscars. That sounds cynical, but it takes a lot for me to really fall in love with a period drama, nowadays. There are things to really like in Josie Rourke’s period drama, but for the most part, it’s not really anything you haven’t seen before.
“Mary Queen of Scots” centers around the political power struggles in 16th England and Scotland when Mary Stewart returns to Scotland after her first husband dies. She has returned to not just stake her claim for the Scottish throne, but also to put herself in position for the English throne when her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, dies. Elizabeth (played by a fantastic Margot Robbie) will not accept her cousin’s claim unless she is willing to marry a man of the Queen’s preference that will produce an heir; Mary (Saoirse Ronan) is reluctant, and doesn’t want to be a pawn for the Queen, but Queen of Scotland first, leading to political maneuvering on all fronts, and the barren Elizabeth trying to appeal to her cousin out of love without resorting to her place as ruler.
The thing that I really liked about Rourke and screenwriter Beau Willimon’s screenplay is how it handles the political aspects of the film less like a stuffy period drama, and more like “Game of Thrones”; you could throw Cersei and Dany into these roles and not miss a beat at all. (Of course, this could very well be where George R.R. Martin got the inspiration for his world.) This is a film about how leaders must assert their will, sometimes, over the people they wish to lead, and when it focuses on this aspect of the story, the film is largely successful, and the lead actresses, in particular, are exciting to watch. (Although Robbie has far more gravity to her performance than Ronan does.) At a certain point, though, tedium does begin to set in, and we’re left just biding our time for when history plays out on-screen, and no, I’m not referring to when Mary and Elizabeth share a scene together, giving the two wonderful actresses in these leads a chance to play opposite one another. There is solid work done by the rest of the cast, as well as very fine production values we are treated to by Rourke’s team, but ultimately, the film stays in its lane and is a largely entertaining work of historical fiction, although personally, I wish I could say it was more.
