Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Director:

Shekhar Kapur

Writers:

William Nicholson (written by) and
Michael Hirst (written by)

Release Date:

12 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

Woman. Warrior. Queen.

Plot:

A mature Queen Elizabeth endures multiple crises late in her reign including court intrigues, an assassination plot, the Spanish Armada, and romantic disappointments.

Plot Keywords:

Queen | Spain | Court | Intrigue | Virgin

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 wins & 13 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Dec. 8

10:30 AM

HBO

Cast

Jordi Mollà	...	King Philip ll of Spain
Aimee King	...	Infanta
Cate Blanchett	...	Queen Elizabeth I
Laurence Fox	...	Sir Christopher Hatton
John Shrapnel	...	Lord Howard
Geoffrey Rush	...	Sir Francis Walsingham
Susan Lynch	...	Annette
Elise McCave	...	Laundry Woman
Samantha Morton	...	Mary Stuart
Abbie Cornish	...	Bess Throckmorton
Penelope McGhie	...	Margaret
Rhys Ifans	...	Robert Reston
Eddie Redmayne	...	Thomas Babington
Stuart McLoughlin	...	Savage
Clive Owen	...	Sir Walter Raleigh

Also Known As:

Elizabeth - Das goldene Königreich (Germany)
Elizabeth - L'âge d'or (France)
The Golden Age (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

UK | France | Germany

Language:

English | Spanish | Swedish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:12A | Canada:14A | Germany:12 | South Korea:12 | Finland:K-13 | Ireland:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43467) | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Taiwan:R-12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | France:Unrated | Hong Kong:IIA | South Africa:13V | Brazil:14 | Malaysia:U | Australia:M | Sweden:15 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Argentina:13 | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire, England, UK

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Angharad Rees, best known for her performance as Demelza in the 1970s BBC television series "Poldark" (1975), designed some of the jewelry worn by Queen Elizabeth and her ladies in waiting. Pieces from Rees' Qing Dynasty Collection are seen throughout the film.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the film, Elizabeth's potential suitors included Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible and Eric XIV of Sweden. Both monarchs were already deceased (Ivan in 1584, Eric in 1577) at the time the film was set (1585). And even if Ivan were still alive, at that period it would have been very unlikely that an Orthodox ruler would marry a Protestant queen. Furthermore, Charles II of Austria would have been 45 at the time the film is set, rather than a mere boy, and was already married with eleven children.

Quotes:

Jailer: The Queen orders these measures for your protection.
Mary Stuart: The Queen? I am a queen... They call her The Virgin Queen. Why is that, sir? Can it be that no man will have her?

Movie Connections:

Featured in 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Coronation Banquet

Cate Blanchett is the definitive Elizabeth, and she proved it in the first film…

"Elizabeth," the first film, was about a young woman coming to the throne in a period of great turmoil, and how she dealt with that… It was love in the context of power, betrayal, and survival…

In "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," we're dealing with the most famous aspects of her regime, the Spanish Armada, the Babington Plot, which was a major plot against her, and Walter Raleigh bringing back the very early understanding of the New World, and the horizons beyond Britain… It is the exploration of unrestricted power…

Elizabeth, as cultured and as intelligent and eloquent as she was, had never left the shores of England… And into her court, strides an explorer who has literally been where the maps end… The gallant Raleigh (Clive Owen) was a free spirit who thrills the queen with his tales and discoveries at sea … The classic 16th-century adventurer who doesn't play by any official rules, and he does bring into the world of the court something very alluring, enigmatic and charismatic, which has a big impact on the queen…

The relationship between Raleigh and Elizabeth was very complicated… There were things holding Elizabeth back… "We mortals have many weaknesses; we feel too much, hurt too much or too soon we die, but we do have the chance of love." These words were spoken by Sir Walter Raleigh to the Virgin Quenn…It's very rare that the Queen takes interest in a man, and she does…

At this special point, England was very weak militarily… Elizabeth had discharged the navy… And once again it was the old problem of religious instability, which harasses the human race frequently…

Anybody that's interested in this period of history will find it fascinating just how capable Elizabeth was in regards to how she dealt with the captive Queen of Scots…

Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton) had great respect for the Protestant Elizabeth, and was remarkably intrigued by her, and desperate to meet her, and fascinated… For several years Elizabeth suffered about her execution because she really believed two things… She believed that any queen was divine… She accepted as true that her Catholic cousin was there by the will of God, and therefore, Mary was there by the will of God… And in executing Mary, she would disintegrate her one belief that she herself was divine…

Mary found it in death… Elizabeth had to find it in life… So if you look at the Armada, Elizabeth finally does become divine, and that's why we had to admire how the scene of the Armada is shot, by Shekhar Kapur, in that way… It's not actually a fiery sea battle between two countries… It's a 'Holy War' with Spain… Therefore, the defining moments of the Armada is when Elizabeth walks up across the verdant cliffs in flowing white nightgown… She's no longer the Avenging Queen… She's instead a supernatural being, a disembodied soul defeating the enemy, dominating the fearless of the waves, the force of the storm, and the strength of fire…

Dripping with intrigues, plots, battles, mysteries, and strong emotions, the film captured the ecclesiastical spaces of the cathedrals to look more like a palace environment… It also captured the feel of the16th century architecture, linking and matching it to the proper locations…