A compelling story concerning the not-so virtuous Queen Elizabeth and her affair with Lord Dudley. Cate Blanchett plays the title role with style and originality. Joseph Fiennes shows a softer side to Dudley than the histoy books would have us beleive, especially because his is thought to have murdered his wife to get close to the queen and is eventually banished for treason. Fiennes could have shown Dudley as scathing, suspicious and downright nasty, but if Elizabeth didn't see that, we shouldn't either. That is the overall tone of the film.

We feel her inner chaos thougth extreme measures of camera angles and movement of the focus. It is a work of art visually, but it is also history lesson. It is the type of hisory lesson that you walk out of wondering if you played hookey for 2/3 of the classes. Viewers of "artsy" films in particular do not want a film "fed to them", and Elizabeth certianly does nothing of the sort.
Yet, this is exactly what proves to be "Elizabeth"s only clear downfall. At times, the non-British History Scholor will find it difficult to understand the meanings for some actions. If those loose ends can provoke a few people to read about British History, then Elizabeth is a winner to me.