Watch the film “Elizabeth” (1998), and answer the following questions
(Film link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmFJ12a_QF8
Viewing Questions:
Viewing Questions: Elizabeth (dir. Kapur) (1998)
What is the time frame of this movie? When does it begin? Who is on the throne? According to the opening of the movie, what is the main conflict?
Why are the three people burned in the opening scene? Who are they?
Who are Norfolk, Sussex, Walsingham, William Cecil, Robert Dudley?
Who is Mary of Guise? Who is the Duke of Anjou?
What is the financial and military condition in England when Elizabeth is crowned?
Track the way interior vs. exterior (outside) scenes are shot in the film. Is there a transition in the settings in which we see Elizabeth at crucial moments in the film?
Track the costumes and hair styles that Elizabeth wears as well as the several scenes of dressing and undressing her we observe. What do the various kinds of clothing signify?
There is quite a bit of violence in this film – and quite a lot of footage of the results of violence (burning of heretics, war dead, heads of executed people, poison dresses, etc.). What is the impact of all of this violence on the viewer? What picture of the Renaissance does it give us? Compare the number of scenes of explicit violence to the number of scenes of delightful entertainment (dancing, feasting, boat parties, etc.). What’s the balance?
What is the volta? How many times do we see it performed? In what contexts?
At 19 minutes, 24 seconds and at 1 hour, 27 minutes, we see parallel scenes of Elizabeth walking through a crowd of people. Compare these two scenes. Why does the director repeat the same scene? What is the difference?
In the film, Elizabeth sees a portrait of her father, Henry VIII. What is the significance of this scene?
What is the Act of Uniformity? How does Walsingham make sure that it gets enough votes to pass?
What does the Papal Bull signed and issued just after midway through the film say?
Describe the figure of the unnamed priest (played by Daniel Craig!).
At the beginning of the movie, Mary Tudor pleads with Elizabeth to “not take away consolation of the blessed Virgin” from the people of England. What does she mean? Does Elizabeth in any way keep that promise by the end of the film?
Why are many of the main characters of the film killed at the end of the film? What is each of them doing when they are killed? Is there any pattern in their activities?
Whom does Elizabeth marry at the end of the film?
What is the relationship between sex and politics in this film?
