Apr 20

Apr 20 Mary, Queen of Scots (2018)

Since her breakthrough role in Atonement at the age of thirteen, Saoirse Ronan has proven her ability time and again to play any part with honesty and believability: as the recently deceased Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones, for example; as the young 1950s immigrant in Brooklyn; as the headstrong high-school senior in Lady Bird; and as the iconic Jo March in Little Women. In Mary, Queen of Scots, she successfully takes on the title role, portraying Mary Stuart as a strong, confident monarch who relies on intellect, steely resolve, and intuition.

The saga of the queen who reigned over Scotland for nearly twenty-five years in the sixteenth century, and who faced a bitter rival in Queen Elizabeth of England, has been told on film before, most notably in the 1971 feature starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson. Ms. Redgrave received an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the Scottish monarch, as did Ms. Ronan. The more recent film stands up well beside its predecessor.

The setting of this Mary, Queen of Scots impresses, with its dark castles and rolling countrysides. Director Josie Rourke brings Beau Willimon’s solid script to life, at points lending a poetic air to the proceedings. The true story, filled with intrigue and personality, politics and religion, war and peace, contains much that makes it a tale worth telling, and this production a film worth watching.