Best movie ever!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Lady Jane is directed by Trevor Nunn, is written by Chris Bryant and David Edgar and has music by Stephen Oliver. The film stars Helena Bonham Carter, John Wood, Cary Elwes, Michael Hordern, Patrick Stewart, Sara Kestleman, Jill Bennett, Warren Saire and Jane Lapotaire.This film tells the story of one of Britain's most tragic monarchs, Lady Jane Grey, who was known as the nine day Queen. This film captures the cruelty and violence of the Tudor court very well. To survive you had to be strong and ruthless, the strong closed in on the weak and innocent and used them. I love how often characters allegiances change in this film. Watch the minor characters, one moment they are loyal to King Edward and then to Jane and at the end of the film they show up again now loyal to Queen Mary. Whoever had power at one moment the Lords and Ladies flocked towards, if that person lost power they were abandoned just as quickly. The young King Edward VI(Warren Saire)is dying. His guardian the scheming John Dudley(John Wood), is trying to decide who will succeed the young king. Dudley decides the throne will go to the great niece of King Henry VIII Lady Jane Grey(Helena Bonham Carter). Dudley marries off his youngest son Guilford(Cary Elwes)to Lady Jane, he intends to persuade Guilford to influence her so he can use the young couple as puppet rulers carrying out his orders. Jane however is an independent and strong young woman, she will not be controlled easily. Jane is also a complete innocent, she doesn't want the throne and has no interest in Tudor politics. It is so sad to see how she is used. Jane's mother Frances(Sara Kestelman)is even worse than Dudley, she is interested only in status and power, she forces her daughter to accept the crown and turns her back on her when things do not go as planned. Jane's father Henry Grey, the Duke of Suffolk(Patrick Stewart)goes along with the plan, but only to a certain point and he doesn't abandon his daughter in her time of need.Jane is crowned but will only reign as Queen for nine days. Princess Mary (Jane Lapotaire)demands the throne as her right as the daughter of King Henry VIII and the sister of King Edward VI. Mary calls Jane and her supporters traitors.The relationship between Guilford and Jane was apparently not as loving as the film depicts. Cary and Helena work very well together though and portray their characters as what they were, teenagers who were thrust into something they had no wish for. They hate each other at first but as the film goes on they fall in love and their relationship becomes very poignant. When Jane becomes Queen she does try to do things that will help the poor and bring some joy to the country. I love the costumes and the period design. The score by Stephen Oliver is one of my favourites and it is very moving. The cast are all excellent. Helena gives such a powerful performance, conveying the innocence of Jane and her strength of character. I love her reaction when she screams for Guilford after she has been crowned, she can't believe what is happening and is terrified. Cary is charming as the fun loving Guilford. I love the final scene between him and Helena in the tower, they are both so moving. John Wood gives one of his best performances as the scheming John Dudley. He conveys so much with just a look and he's fascinating to watch throughout the film. I love how he acts like a loving father to King Edward one moment, then the next coldly instructs the doctor to keep the king alive in great pain until he has signed the new accession document.Warren Saire is moving as the tragic Edward. Sara Kestleman is cold and ruthless as Jane's mother. Jane Laptaire portrays Mary as a dignified woman, strong and determined. Mary knows how Tudor games are played and knows how to survive. The scene where she warns Jane to take care shows that Jane was not as strong as her sadly, so she couldn't survive that life.Michael Hordern delivers a touching performance as the kind Dr Feckenham, who is the only one besides Edward VI and Guilford to treat Jane with kindness.I like the film very much but would have liked to have seen more of Jane's nine days as Queen. A must see for anyone who loves films about the Tudors.

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 love these historical Tudor dramas, such as the earlier Mary Queen of Scots with Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson. However, I confess that I caught this one on television and missed a few parts. Unfortunately, I'm not an expert either on the history of its title character, nicknamed the Nine Days Queen, so am going somewhat by others' comments on the historical accuracy.The film chronicles the succession chaos following the death of Henry VIII. When the new king, Henry's sickly teenage son, Edward VI is dying, a scheming minister, John Dudley (Duke of Northumberland), concocts a scheme to ensure a Protestant succession by marrying off his own son, Guildford, to the young king's royal cousin, Lady Jane Grey, a devout Protestant. Lady Jane is merely a pawn forced by her parents to acquiesce to this arranged marriage and claim to the throne. Although at first she detests her new husband, as time passes, the couple fall passionately in love. However, all is not well. Henry VIII's daughter, Mary, claims the crown for herself and must therefore eliminate the young usurper, resulting in the execution of both Jane and Guildford.This is an interesting tale of Tudor court intrigue, with the period costumes, castles, and scenes all beautifully done.Helena Bonham Carter, a very young actress herself, brings a sympathetic portrayal of the 15 year old bookish, devout Lady Jane, coerced by her parents into an unwanted marriage. Also, this young queen's willingness to sacrifice her life rather than renounce her faith (if this is indeed historical) serves as an inspiration for us all. Patrick Stewart is particularly forceful (as always) in his role as Jane's domineering father, Henry Grey, who eventually springs to his daughter's defense by leading a rebellion on her behalf.My problem lies mainly with the historical accuracy. If there is no evidence of true love existing between Jane and Guildford Dudley, it isn't acceptable to simply concoct a sort of Romeo and Juliet type romance out of the story, in order to keep audiences entertained. Perhaps a bit of dramatic license is tolerable with historical figures, but not to this extent. I remember being quite touched by Jane's genuine friendship with her cousin, the sickly young King Edward, which is perhaps more historically based.Lady Jane's claim to the throne was indeed a weak one, and the crown went to Henry VIII's closer kin, his two daughters, first Mary and then Elizabeth. Mary was his older Catholic daughter by his divorced first wife, Katherine of Aragon. This tragic, much maligned figure, who came to be known as Bloody Mary, was poorly treated by both her father and her husband, Philip of Spain, with whom she failed to produce an heir. Elizabeth, Henry's younger Protestant daughter and offspring of his second wife (Anne Boleyn), enjoyed a long reign as Elizabeth I. Lady Jane Grey's story is indeed a tragic one, but she was merely Henry VIII's great niece, a much more distant relative than his daughters.

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.