We continue our regal movie series with a selection of the graceful, beautiful, charismatic and all-powerful queens to shine on the big screen. Inspiring or fearsome, those ten women are more than a match for every man they meet on their path!
10. Queen Amidala (Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace) – Natalie Portman
Constitutionally chosen by the people of Nabu at just fourteen years of age, Amidala has to lead her nation against a foreign invasion and the rise of ancient evil in the face of the forgotten Sith lords. She forcefully bursts into action and is the main inspiration for everything that happens in Episode One. Adolescent Natalie Portman backed the stunning debut from Leon and showed us she has one of the brightest futures in the industry.
9. Sibylla of Jerusalem (Kingdom of Heaven) – Eva Green
One of my biggest movie crushes – stunning femme fatale Eva Green – takes on the role of Sibylla of the royal house of Jerusalem. Trapped in a dynastic marriage with violent Guy de Lusignan, she quickly falls in love with the new baron of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom). Despite hopelessly inaccurate from a historical point of view, Kingdom of Heaven remains one of the best epic movies of the new century. Eva Green was the perfect casting choice as the sensual, intelligent and independent Queen of Jerusalem, a powerful woman of her own will.
8. Olympias (Alexander) – Angelina Jolie
I have been a fan of Angelina Jolie ever since the first Tomb Raider movie, so it is only natural that her portrayal of Alexander the Great’s legendary mother – Olympias – lands on the eighth spot in my list. Despite the fact that Oliver Stone’s movie is of very questionable quality, arguably the best casting choice was precisely Jolie. She is everything Olympias should be – charismatic, mesmerizingly beautiful, with an astonishing regal presence that overtakes every scene she is in. Add to that her lust for power, unsurpassed cunning intellect, questionable scruples – and you realize why Alexander ended up the person he was. Thumbs up by team Jolie!
7. Queen Victoria (The Young Victoria) – Emily Blunt
I was surprised the movie went somehow unnoticed, while I thought it was one of the best period dramas I have seen in a very long while. Besides it does not concentrate on the long and successful rule of Victoria, but her first steps in power and the love that shaped her life. Emily Blunt is immaculately vivid and truthful as the young princess of Wales, later to become queen of Britain. You can easily see the great on-screen chemistry between her and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha. A must-watch movie if you have missed it under the radar.
6. The White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia franchise) – Tilda Swinton
While The Chronicles of Narnia unfortunately remained in the immense shadow of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it was still an entertaining movie in its own right. But Tilda Swinton stole the show almost single-handedly with her brilliant portrayal of the ultimate snow queen – the White Witch of Narnia. She easily convinced us that she would turn us all to ice for the pure sadistic pleasure of the act. She was ultimately undone by her unlimited lust for power and her cruelty (not very clever to mess up with an angry lion, especially if it is voiced by Liam Neeson).
5. Marguerite de Valois (La Reine Margot) – Isabelle Adjani
One of the best costume dramas of all time, La Reine Margot triumphed at Cannes in 1994 and swept the Cesar Awards the same year. Angelically beautiful Isabelle Adjani depicted one of the most romantic and tragic queens of France – Marguerite de Valois, the wife of Henry IV. The movie perfectly captures the epoch of religious strife in early modern France – the dynastic marriage between a Huguenot prince and a Catholic princess, the abhorring violence of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, the flight of Henry de Navarre from Paris. On this background blossoms the forbidden, impossible love between Margot and the Huguenot nobleman La Mole – a love that could only end in tragedy.
4. Cleopatra (Cleopatra) – Elizabeth Taylor
It is hard to overlook one of the most iconic movies of all time, a genre-defining epic that ruled the box office and received nine Academy Award nominations and won four of them. Elizabeth Taylor, the undisputed Queen of Hollywood, took on the role of one of the most famous (or infamous – depends on the point of view) women in history. The embodiment of lust and sexual power, Cleopatra of Egypt stood her ground against giants like Julius Caesar and Octavian August and successfully seduced General Marc Antony. Proud, ambitious, fiery, cunning, lustful, mesmerizing – Cleopatra was all that and more, and there was no better actress to depict her than Taylor. The perfect combination in a movie classic for the ages.
3. Galadriel of Lorien (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) – Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett is the only actress that will appear twice on this list – and this is a testament enough for her regal presence on the big screen. In the Fellowship of the Ring her portrayal of the all-powerful, wise and almost bewitching Queen of Lorien stunned the audience with its natural grace and effortless style. Galadriel, arguably the most powerful being in Middle Earth besides Sauron, is the guiding light for the Fellowship in the gathering darkness of the onslaught of Evil. I honestly cannot think of another actress who could have depicted her better than Blanchett.
2. Elizabeth I of England (Elizabeth) – Cate Blanchett
Two in a row – how about that? I have nothing more to say about Cate – it seems she was only born to play Queens. And what better and more challenging choice than the greatest monarch in British history – Elizabeth I? Daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, locked in the Tower of London by her bloodthirsty half-sister Mary Tudor, Elizabeth changed the face of England forever. Fiercely dutiful and dignified, exceedingly intelligent, she dominated her Court which comprised mostly of men. She ushered the turn to the Atlantic, the Shakespearean age, the policy of religious tolerance – and we catch a glimpse of all that in the movie, guided by the brilliant performance of one of the leading acts in Hollywood.
1. Elizabeth II (The Queen) – Helen Mirren
All the queens mentioned so far are either fictional or historical figures, but in 2006 we got the unique chance to see a movie about a living monarch in power – Stephen Frears’ The Queen. And this is the main reason why Helen Mirren undeniably stands atop of this list – because her impersonation of Queen Elizabeth II was so impeccably perfect, so elaborate and truthful in every detail, that we almost felt enchanted, as if we were watching a documentary, not a motion picture.
The movie depicts the tragic days after the Princess of Wales’ death in 1997 and the struggle of the Royal family to come to terms with the spontaneous outburst of grief by the whole nation. It is a tricky topic to tackle, but director Frears, Mirren and the rest of the cast pass the test with flying colours – a fact readily admitted by the critics, who gave Mirren every single important award for a leading female performance that year.
