There you are, quite happy reading books, living a quiet privileged life because you are closely related to the king of England your name is Jane and you are 15 years old.
Then one day the scheming lord of Northumberland has a cunning plan, the young king is dieing, next in line to the throne is Mary who is a Catholic and we can't have that, too much blood has been spilt moving away from this religion. So the next best thing is to get Jane on the throne of England, not a Catholic she is ideal and can be controlled by her not so nice mother. Just to make sure he marries Jane off to his son Guilford, who he thinks he can control.
This proves to be a big mistake for the two fall in love and with the idealistic fervour of youth decide that all is not right with the world and what they would do to change it. Only when Jane is called to London do they realise what has been planned all along, this sends them into a frenzy of planning for the future to make it a better world for all.
Sadly with only nine days as Queen she doesn't get much done and is soon carted off to the tower with Guilford, tried and finally executed.
So that's the story in a nutshell, the cast do a fine job of the acting, especially Helena Bonham Carter for whom this was a break out movie. There are some touching moments the scene on the scaffold, the love scenes between the two leads. I like the fact it asks the question, how much better would it have been if the country had a Queen like Jane wanting to make things better instead of Mary a bitter old woman. Though I doubt a child of 15 would have been able to overcome all the Lords in her council and change anything, but it's interesting to wonder.
I do remember from my history lessons at school that Guilford and Jane never liked each other, as the film portrays, but that does not take away from the fact that these two young people, he was only 17, were pawns in a plan to take the crown of England. Even at that time when the young grew up quickly, Henry V11's mother was 13 when she gave birth to him, this was surely something would have never planned themselves.
Even though it does not follow history to the letter it is still a good film that has enough facts to make it interesting to you history buffs out there. Where it really works is as a love story, captured with style by Trevor Nunn. With the constant appetite for period dramas this could if re made well head all the way to the Oscars.
Then one day the scheming lord of Northumberland has a cunning plan, the young king is dieing, next in line to the throne is Mary who is a Catholic and we can't have that, too much blood has been spilt moving away from this religion. So the next best thing is to get Jane on the throne of England, not a Catholic she is ideal and can be controlled by her not so nice mother. Just to make sure he marries Jane off to his son Guilford, who he thinks he can control.
This proves to be a big mistake for the two fall in love and with the idealistic fervour of youth decide that all is not right with the world and what they would do to change it. Only when Jane is called to London do they realise what has been planned all along, this sends them into a frenzy of planning for the future to make it a better world for all.
Sadly with only nine days as Queen she doesn't get much done and is soon carted off to the tower with Guilford, tried and finally executed.
So that's the story in a nutshell, the cast do a fine job of the acting, especially Helena Bonham Carter for whom this was a break out movie. There are some touching moments the scene on the scaffold, the love scenes between the two leads. I like the fact it asks the question, how much better would it have been if the country had a Queen like Jane wanting to make things better instead of Mary a bitter old woman. Though I doubt a child of 15 would have been able to overcome all the Lords in her council and change anything, but it's interesting to wonder.
I do remember from my history lessons at school that Guilford and Jane never liked each other, as the film portrays, but that does not take away from the fact that these two young people, he was only 17, were pawns in a plan to take the crown of England. Even at that time when the young grew up quickly, Henry V11's mother was 13 when she gave birth to him, this was surely something would have never planned themselves.
Even though it does not follow history to the letter it is still a good film that has enough facts to make it interesting to you history buffs out there. Where it really works is as a love story, captured with style by Trevor Nunn. With the constant appetite for period dramas this could if re made well head all the way to the Oscars.