Sadly Over-hyped

Purely Joyful Movie!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I give this film a 7 our of ten with an important caveat-it is far more inaccurate historically than any decent historical film should be. I am not talking about the small kind of details than many historically oriented people might complain about... I'm talking about the major details such as the focus on reforming the shilling, which is made to look like a major accomplishment of Jane's even though it did not occur at all in her very very short reign. Most of this film is completely fabricated, from the depiction of her personality to the relationship with her husband. The only thing that is true is that she was used as a pawn by people around her who wanted a protestant queen instead of Catholic queen....and their misuse of her in this plot cost her her life. In all likelihood, so much of the biographical details are fictionalized because we have so little information on what she was really like.The reason I give the film so high a rating is that its a total guilty pleasure for someone who likes a a bit of historical drama. Helena B-Carter is great as a a Jane that is willful, but both strong and vulnerable at the same time She's a pleasure to watch in this, even if we have little information to suggest how Jane herself was. I also like the complexity of the relationship with her husband, even though by most historic accounts, he was a drunken louse and there's no reason to believe they won each others hearts as they did in the film. In short, this is a reasonably well written and presented historical drama, even if not a great representation of Jane and her life.

To see the real story of where Lady Jane Grey's tragic life had it start one might look at the Disney film, The Sword and the Rose. In that one, soldier of fortune Charles Brandon (Richard Todd) wooed and won Henry VIII's sister Mary (Glynis Johns). Their grand daughter was Lady Jane Grey who for a brief nine days was recognized by some as the Queen of England. Jane Grey (1537-1554) was a quiet, learned, and pious young woman who was a pawn in a power play by the Duke of Northumberland played by John Wood. The minor King Edward VI was a sickly lad who inherited the throne from his father Henry VIII. His original guardians were his uncles Thomas and Edward Seymour, but they got to quarreling and both eventually made it to the executioner's block. In fact Lady Jane Grey opens with Edward Seymour's execution and the Duke of Northumberland assuming guardianship.But he knows he's got a sickly dying king and to preserve the newly formed Anglican church that will go by the boards if the Catholic Mary Tudor inherits the throne, he needs a Protestant on the throne. Of course he wants to insure his own dominance. To do that he and Jane's parents get an arranged marriage with his youngest son, Guilford Dudley who mostly is interested in sampling the fleshpots of whatever town he's in. Still he's a handsome bloke if I do say so.Lady Jane gives you the politics, but concentrates on a legendary romance that actually developed out of this arranged marriage. Cary Elwes as Guilford and Helena Bonham Carter as Jane are one appealing pair. They may or may not have been that taken with each other as presented here, but why let that get in the way of an appealing story.By all accounts John Wood as the Duke of Northumberland was as big an intriguer and egomaniac as presented here. Allegedly he had one overbearing personality and the royal council went to the Catholic Mary rather than deal with him any longer. A lot of them had reason to regret that shortly.Sara Kestelman and Patrick Stewart are Jane's parents, a pair of greedy rogues if there ever were. Stewart gets his just desserts, but Kestelman as Frances if anything was downplayed. She actually gave up her place in the line of succession for her daughter because between all of them, they thought they could control Jane and Guilford. By all accounts she was one malignant witch of a woman who actually survived it all.The most touching performance here is young Warren Saire as the terminally ill Edward VI. The kid who changed places with a doppleganger beggar boy did not have a happy reign while he was in his minority. He so wanted to live and secure a Tudor succession.Lady Jane isn't accurate history, but it's still a fine film with a good cast and thoroughly enjoyable.

I had passed the copy of "Lady Jane" at the public library multiple times, each time mildly interested due to Cary Elwes being in it. Finally this week, I actually checked it out after noticing that Helena Bonham Carter (another fave) was in it as well. I never thought it would be this good.I wasn't familiar with the story of Jane Grey before watching the movie which was a good thing. I'm interested in the history of the English kings and queens, particularly Henry VIII and his children. Somewhere I missed the Nine Days Queen and like I said, that was a plus for the movie.Lady Jane (Helena Bonham Carter) is a young girl who embraced the new Protestant religion in a primarily Catholic world. She's put into an arranged marriage with the son of the Duke of Northumberland. Guilford (Cary Elwes) is shown to be a drunken womanizer, dug out of a whorehouse when he is informed of his upcoming wedding. Against all odds(but not too surprising, considering it is a movie) they fall in love. Then, their social climbing parents coerce the dying King Edward to change his will to place Jane as his successor. In that time, Jane and Guilford implement new laws and practices that the counselors are none to pleased with. As a result, the exiled Princess Mary is returned to London and Jane and Guilford are imprisoned for usurping the throne, and eventually executed.Helena Bonham Carter is brilliant in the title role. I haven't seen her act this young before and was pleased with what I saw. She had remarkable discipline as a mere 18 year old and great command of the character.Cary Elwes (always amazing) was very interesting to watch in this. He appears at first to be highly immature, lazy, and unmotivated, desiring nothing but alcohol, and sampling the pleasures of "a lady of the night." He is in truth, revealed to be highly passionate for his cause in reforming the world he lives in. Together, HBC and CE have fantastic chemistry and are a complete joy to watch.The entire cast is good. The majority of them are veteran RSC actors and a wonderful offset to the youthfulness of Helena and Cary.It was a great script, great actors, great music, and in general, it is highly unforgettable. I can watch it again and again.

This movie is based on one of the sadder and more easily forgotten events in English history. Following the death of the boy king Edward VI (son of henry VIII), there was concern about what to do about succession. He had no brothers and his two sisters were seen by many as being inappropriate to assume the throne. First, but not most importantly because they were women, but more because of how it would affect the newly formed Church of England. Second, because Mary and Elizabeth had been declared "bastards" and were technically unable to assume the throne due to their father's many marriages. The oldest sibling, Mary, was an ardent Catholic and if she assumed the throne, heads would definitely role and the English would be drawn into the fold of the Papacy. And, Elizabeth really couldn't become queen because this same Church of England had complied with allowing her mother's execution on trumped up charges of adultery (the things she was accused of doing were so strange and stupid it is obvious it was all fabricated). If she did, once again, heads would probably roll! So, Edwards' trusted advisers decided on another course--one which had a very tenuous legal basis. They wanted to make Lady Jane Grey the next queen even though she was only Edward's cousin. But, they had more problems than just legal ones. Jane didn't want to become queen, nor was she interested in marrying Guilford Dudley, the stooge they hand-picked for her (he was the son of one of the men who orchestrated this conspiracy). Much of the movie is a moving account of how they basically beat the daylights out of Jane until she agreed to both the wedding and the crown.Quite unexpectedly, Jane grew to like her new husband and that was a shame, as she only ruled England for nine days before Mary asserted herself and had those involved executed. A very sad affair indeed.The film looks quite beautiful and the acting is just lovely. About the only potential negative was a brief nude scene between Jane and Guilford. In the movie, she was supposed to be only 16 (though Helena Bonham Carter was about 19 when she made the film). It just felt uneasy watching two supposed teens making love--ewww. But, otherwise a fine and very interesting film.