Mary Queen of Scots

by Philip Price

Director: Josie Rourke
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie & Jack Lowden
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 hours & 4 minutes

​By definition, “Mary Queen of Scots” is a movie. It's competently made, one would even say a rather gorgeous film to behold (the costume design is especially noteworthy), and it has performances from two of last year's Best Actress nominees with a story that more than lends itself well to drama yet despite all these strong components “Mary Queen of Scots” never becomes anything compelling. It's as if first-time feature director Josie Rourke was able to successfully implement all of the technical skills and story knowledge she's accrued over her career thus far and implement them into a film that meets all the standards of what is supposed to make-up a film, but with none of the intangible stuff one needs in order to craft something truly moving or impactful.

Saoirse Ronan is Mary Stuart, who was the Queen of France at 16 and widowed by 18, who then defied pressure to re-marry and instead returned to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. Scotland and England fell under the rule of the compelling Elizabeth I as played by Margot Robbie though, intensifying this rivalry of sorts between two women who have unsuspectingly come to power in the absence of their husbands in a world that is designed to allow the masculine to rule. The majority of “Mary Queen of Scots” revolves around the back and forth between Mary and Elizabeth as they play games involving marriage and child bearing that result in betrayal, rebellion, and conspiracies within each other’s courts that only tend to further complicate who the one true ruler is meant to be.  

To certain extents the film is perfectly content in being what it's so very clearly intended to be-an enticing period drama-but despite bouncing back and forth between Mary's provocations and Elizabeth's deliberations as to how she should properly respond to said provocations there isn't much of a drive to the overall film. The shorter vignettes within the whole of the film have a hit or miss quality where the reaction each individual has will either entice them to continue on this journey with the characters or push them to look at their phone and determine how much of the running time remains. For all the good intents, grand costumes, and researched performances “Mary Queen of Scots” so clearly sports it was near impossible to not glance down at the time more times than I should have.