WITH ELIZABETH, INDIAN-BORN DIRECTOR SHEKHAR KAPUR, WHO MADE HIS REPUTATION WITH THE REVENGE SAGE BANDIT QUEEN, REINVIGORATED THE ENGLISH COSTUME DRAMA AND MADE A STAR OF CATE BLANCHETT.
When the young, skittish Elizabeth succeeds, the powers behind the throne would have her marry a foreign prince to shore up the country’s parlous state, but the new queen prefers the company of the charming Lord Dudley (Joseph Fiennes). Elizabeth’s pragmatic Protestantism makes her the target for numerous Catholic intrigues. Playing fast and loose with history, Kapur develops the piece into a labyrinthine conspiracy movie. He cunningly confuses gender roles, equates sex with death, and rattles through dark, stony passions with some considerable panache.