There's nothing quite so cutting as damning with faint praise.
Like when British period films are dubbed Ôcostume dramasÕ - the inference being that fantastic costumes are the one saving grace beside stilted dialogue, slow pace and oh-so-predictable plots.
Of course, given the uncritical fascination millions of Americans have with British history (understandable given the youth of their own nation), such frock flicks have always given good box office in the US, the market that really matters. It seemed unlikely that anyone would ever feel the need to vary the formula.
But in 1998, Elizabeth broke the mould.
It was evident even before the filmÕs release that this was something different. HERITIC! TRAITOR! LOVER! ASSASSIN! blared the Trainspotting-esqe posters, each charge positioned beneath dramatic portraits of the four main protagonists. The campaign suggested a medieval Usual Suspects, a film that was more suspense thriller than jolly Merchant Ivory pageantry.
It did not disappoint. Elizabeth, more than any other film, encapsulates the cruel synergy of sex, politics and death that dominated the Tudor period. It is both literally and metaphorically dark. Swooping camera angles mirror the courtly vultures that constantly circled the young royal, waiting to rip her to pieces. Violent juxtapositions Ð heretics being burned/women dancing in the countryside Ð infuse a genuine atmosphere of insecurity and paranoia.
Wheras previous films have trodden the well-worn path of ElizabethÕs glory days (the defeat of the Armada, the Shakesperian moment etc), here she is examined not as a monarch but as a human being. On the eve of the re-establishment of the Church of England Ð an epic, defining moment for the English nation Ð we see not pomp and circumstance but a frightened, insecure young girl rehearsing her speech, Ally McBeal-style, into an unforgiving mirror.
It is this keen psychological insight that really puts the drama back into costume drama. Ironic then that, out of all the filmÕs Oscar nominations, it should only win Best Make-Up.