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MOVIE REVIEW

MY OPINION ON “ELIZABETH”
By Micaela Cascallares

1- The basic story
“Elizabeth” is the story about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s I rule in England. The story first shows how she inherited the throne, being a “bastard” and the way she managed to obtain the love of “her people”, first not knowing how to face the religious problems (Catholicism vs. Protestantism), exposing herself to dangerous opponents -she was protestant and the Queen before her (Mary) was catholic- who wanted her death to protect Catholicism, making big mistakes, facing betrayal from almost everybody she trusted (including her lover). Having discovered them, she decides to put her love and trust as part of her past and decides to become a “virgin” again. The movie ends showing this great moment (you must see her costume). She never got married (she proclaimed she was married to England). I think the basic idea of the movie is to show the metamorphosis that Elizabeth I experienced in her life to become one of the greatest rulers of English history.

  2- The style of the film It is obviously based on her true story, perhaps adding some condiments. So I could say it is a Historic Movie

COVER!CLICK ON THE IMAGE
  3- Extent to which the costumes in the film supported the story I think that if you want to tell a true story (any true story) to make it more believable you have to respect the costumes of the period and territory. In my opinion in “Elizabeth” the costumes respected the period as well as the territory, and are basic to understand it.

ELIZABETH WITH NATURAL LOOK
  4- Extent to which the costumes appeared to conform to real images from the past I have noticed a change in costume between the beginning and the end of the movie. I think it shows the fashion changes of the period. For example, Elizabeth and her servants, first wear their hair very long in a “relaxed” way, as the movie continues, their hair start looking more elaborated, adding different sorts of adornment. This also occurs with their dresses, they start being almost plain in details and gradually incorporate fancier textiles and complicated embroideries. I really don’t know if this occurs because of her new “status”, but I have noticed changes even when she was already a Queen. It is also easy to notice the big difference existing between English, Spanish and French costumes, which look very similar to the ones showed in the class 16th. Century page. I have to say I felt a little disappointed because they never showed Elizabeth’s most famous dress, then I imagined this was because she may have worn it when she was older as at the ending says that she ruled for forty more years. I would love to know (if anyone can help me) the year and/or occasion she wore it for.

5- Reason why I thought the costumes were successful or unsuccessful overall.
Costumes were certainly successful; I think It’s a good movie to watch when studying the 16th Century. The sets are great too. As I say above, they show very well fashion changes in the period and respect the different styles from different countries and status.

NORFOLK