MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Director: Josie Rourke
UK, 124, R
Screenwriter: Beau Willimon, based on the biography by John Guy
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, Angela Bain.
In another century, perhaps these two intelligent, politically aware first cousins, Mary (Catholic, Scottish) and Elizabeth (Protestant, English) may have been friends, or at least allies. But in 1561, when Mary arrives from France at age 18, she and her Celtic followers are quickly seen as a possible threat to Britain’s dominance. As young women trying to navigate a treacherous world of betrayal, love, and violence, Mary (an extraordinary Saoirse Ronan) and Elizabeth (a powerful Margot Robbie) bring a new understanding to this clash of brilliant titans.
“A bloody rivalry for the throne… is also exploring what stories we still tell about women in power — what a woman can and can’t do, what she can and can’t be.”- Alexis Solosky, New York Times. New York Times Critics Pick.
