Mary Stuart vs. Elizabeth Tudor: rivalry of the Millennium. Only to be ruined by dumb men. The 2018 Mary Queen of Scots tries show us this version of that relationship between women in positions of power during an era dominated by the patriarchy. The movie is lucky to have Saoirse Ronan, because it doesn’t have much else going for it otherwise.
The movie opens with Mary Stuart (Ronan) assuming her birthright, landing and ascending to the throne of Scotland. Scotland’s relationship with with England is especially fraught at this time, despite Mary’s familial relationship with Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie). That relationship is put to the test as both women via circumstance try to wield their power for their respective countries, navigating romantic issues, nobles’ power grabs, and religious differences.
The movie obviously is trying to parallel the ruling prowess of both women. However, based on the title, it’s clear to the filmmakers that Mary’s story is more interesting, so we spend I would say 3/4 of the running time with Mary, relegating Elizabeth’s story to the background, which turns out to have movie affecting consequences. The story then becomes a study of a Scottish Queen in power, and how men will screw her over at every turn. In order to prove its point, characters that completely devote themselves to Mary’s cause will commit so much treason that you start to question Mary’s ruling tactics because of how many people close to her try to usurp her leadership. You could argue this is because Mary tried to rule with a man by her side instead of by herself, like Elizabeth, but the movie doesn’t show us how Elizabeth pulled off that feat well enough to take that argument seriously. This movie would have you think all Elizabeth thought about was the man she secretly loved and how to support her rebellious cousin because she was in awe of her. It’s a strange characterization that Margot Robbie has somewhere between 10-20 minutes of the 2 hour runtime to flesh out, which is not enough time. The saving grace here is Saoirse Ronan, who uses her beefed up screentime to give us an interesting take on Mary Stuart and all the problems she encountered trying to rule her kingdom.
I’m pretty sure after the pitch meeting about Mary vs. Elizabeth, the screenwriter was probably like “This movie basically writes itself.” However, Mary Queen of Scots feels more like a first pass that needs another revision. No number of period costumes, misogynistic David Tennant speeches, or Scottish Highlands can keep this movie from turning out pretty forgettable, which is unfortunate. I mean, those highlands are something else…