Mary Queen of Scots Movie Analysis

‘Mary Queen of Scots’ depicts the era of Queen Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scotland, in the 1500s. Through its 120 minute running time, viewers are immersed in the conflicts, communications, and battles that occurred over Catholicism and Protestantism, and between Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth I. One of the most popular aspects of this movie is its credited accuracy in clothing, hair, and makeup; How well does this accuracy translate into other topics in its historical properties? Despite other accuracies in the film, the communications and the likes of the people (race, social class, titles) fall short on the parallelism to the true history. The movie inaccurately displays the communications between Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth I, as well as the people presented in the film versus the people who would have been staff and court members in such a time period. 

In ‘Mary Queen of Scots’, after becoming widowed in France, Mary returns home to Scotland to retake her throne and secure a proper line of succession to the Scottish and English thrones. Mary experiences mounting pressure to re-marry, which Queen Elizabeth took advantage of, sending a protestant man for Mary to wed. At the decline of the proposal, Elizabeth and Mary begin sending letters to each other with contents of trying to find middle ground. They found commonness in their female ruling over their countries and the adversaries it brought. Mary’s choices in her court and methods of ruling (and the absence of passion over making Scotland purely Catholic and repenting the protestant), causes her brother to strike a civil war, in which Mary is the prevailing winner. Mary weds a new husband, one whose father was part of Elizabeth’s court and deferred, having a child with him. The act of her husband being part of an organization to kill Queen Mary’s secretary sent the two into separation, where Mary’s husband was sent away to live in his own house. In retaliation to her court finding out her husband committed adultery, Mary’s husband was assassinated without her knowledge. Rebellion breaks out from the church and Scotland’s people, they accuse Mary of hierarchy and set to kill her and overtake the throne. Queen Mary-- with Elizabeth’s offering-- escapes to England and finds asylum there momentarily before a letter is found in Mary’s handwriting conspiring to kill Queen Elizabeth. After imprisonment for eighteen years, she is executed in England. 

Mary and Elizabeth communicated solely through letters and council members in the movie until the very end where they met in a secluded and guarded farm house to discuss Mary’s asylum in England. ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ aimed to accurately portray the events between Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth I in the 1500’s era of religious conflict and wars by depicting the communications and the aspects of each of the two women. In the movie, there is not incredible depth to the letters they send to each other. Viewers receive a simple reading over and the slight reactions of each Queen as they acknowledge their courts with such information. The film does a considerable job at portraying the letters, but falls short on the amount of letters, and especially in the end of the film when Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I meet in England. Unlike the movie ending, Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I never met in their lifetimes, keeping their words solely in writing. The letters in the film remained close to and sometimes synonymous to that of which have been found and displayed in museums today. Both Elizabeth and Mary remained professional and straightforward in their letters while also practicing manners, though each of them wrote in different ways, taking “...profoundly different and evolving approaches…”. Historians recount their letters as “sisterly” at one point even while both Queens fought to be the domineer of their communes. The film had each actress read the letters as presented, and though written with only slight differences, the letters did not reach the full potential of their historical parts.

In the movie we see people of many races working in the courts and for the Queen’s. We see one of Elizabeth’s chambermaids who is asian, and the ambassador who works for Elizabeth who is black. Mary’s male secretary was also not white (unknown ethnicity). In Elizabethan times, racism wasn’t as extreme as later on in history. Though the movie depicts people of all races working in all positions of Queen Elizabeth’s court, this would not have been the case. Historically recorded, there would have been black people working in the castles and lower ranks of the court “Queen Elizabeth I(…) employed Black musicians. The queen also had a Black maidservant.” but not as high-ranking as some of the characters in the film. Elizabeth’s ambassador in Mary Queen of Scots was a black man, whereas this would have been a white man’s role. The appearance of an asian woman as one of Queen Elizabeth I’s chambermaids, however, was more accurate to history. It was recorded that Elizabeth had a chambermaid of color who she was quite fond of, and who was treated the same as every other chambermaid who was part of Elizabeth’s personal staff. Presented in the film as well are different attitudes than what would be held by such people in the real scenarios of Elizabeth and Mary’s courts, having much less restraint than historically accurate.

The film itself was a decent movie for a period piece. Though somewhat action-less, it managed to maintain my attention in different ways. I did often find myself waiting for the prettier scenes while watching the darker ones. There were lots of scenes in castles and poorly litten areas, or scenes that seemed clustered. I did however enjoy the representation of Queen Elizabeth, who was well-played by Margot Robbie. Personal preferences aside, the average viewer would find this movie entertaining and impressive with its accuracy and dedication to clothing and makeup to the era the film is set in.

The film, ‘Mary Queen of Scots’, though accurate in other ways, is not accurate in the retelling of Queen Mary Stuart’s and Queen Elizabeth I’s communications, as well as the races of the staff and the position of such people who were different races. Despite other accuracies in the film, the communications and the likes of the people (race, social class, titles) fall short on the parallelity to the true history. Therefore this movie inaccurately displays the communications between as well as the people.