Elizabeth the Golden Age

Elizabeth the Golden Age is a beautiful pageant of gowns, scenery, and empty symbolism. Cate Blanchett reprises the role that made her famous and earned her an Oscar nod, and now, as then, she plays Elizabeth with the right combination of passion and regal restraint. The movie picks up with a middle aged queen, lusting after a handsome- and inappropriate- Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) as a political storm brews between England and Spain. Unfortunately for the audience, while the demented Spanish king lectures his creepy doll-toting daughter and Mary Queen of Scots schemes from her prison, we are forced to watch the triangle developing between the aging queen, the political pirate, and the beautiful lady-in-waiting. Throughout the movie, Elizabeth is characterized as significantly older and hence unappealing to a younger man. Scenes between the monarch and her pseudo-suitor are imbued with aggravating shades of Sunset Boulevard. However, Cate Blanchett has never looked better, and she and Clive Owen make a handsome on-screen pairing, so the implications of the Virgin Queen's age do not feel compelling or realistic in the presentation. Furthermore, Elizabeth is reduced to something of a pathetic, love-starved, and slightly bitter woman while her considerable political achievements are downplayed. Had the movie focused on the politics, intrigues, and characters of the time, it could have been a fascinating depiction of a difficult period in a truly remarkable reign. Instead, Elizabeth the Golden Age presents an elegant, stylized, and ultimately unfulfilling clichéed romance.