Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

No historical movie tells a "true story." Each one takes a point of view, a narrative they want to tell, and uses historical figures and events to tell that story. The reigns of Mary Stuart and Elizabeth Tudor are full of possibility for great stories, for morality plays, for good juicy story telling. There have been many portrayals of the queens with sometimes Mary being the villain, sometimes Elizabeth being the strong monarch mopping the floor with her court, sometimes the women being bitter rivals, it's all over the map.

Director Josie Rourke's story is about how women in power remain subjugated to the will of the men around them despite being their sovereigns. Her Elizabeth is a tragic collaborator, cooperating to survive. Her Mary is a tragic martyr, strong and defiant, and unsuccessful in overcoming the patriarchy. She paints Mary as the noble hero of her tale showing her to be progressively compassionate and unrelentingly independent. Her motives are always good and noble. Everyone around her is either week and incompetent or downright corrupt. She has Elizabeth be a prisoner of her throne, unable to overcome the system which uses her.

Rourke's film is stark, you can feel the Scottish chill. She find warmth in the relationships between the women on screen, but that warmth is never free form threat from the cold hearted men around them. The most noble man in the film is the one who embraces his femininity most fully. This is a tribute to femininity. And she builds to a climactic meeting between the two queens, staged gorgeously to a beautifully painful moment. Rourke builds her melancholic tale so beautifully and the two actors imbue their roles wonderfully.

Rourke also does a wonderful job of breaking down the sound and fury of the protestant/catholic drama to show that really what is behind it is desperate men in a pissing contest for power. And the victims of that power struggle are the women who could have ruled Britannia far more competently if left to do so properly. So Mary Queen of Scots is a lovely tragedy with a lesson for our generation and while it may drag a bit, overall it is fascinating.

Mary Queen of Scots
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Arwyn,  David Tennant, Guy Pierce, Ismael Cruz Cordova
Director: Josie Rourke
Writer: Beau Willimon