Lady Jane

Henry the Eighth dies and a sick boy is left on the throne. Edward the Sixth is fifteen and it is clear he will not live. The men running the country make a plan: if his sister Mary takes the throne the old order will return. His cousin Jane Grey will be put there instead. Jane is sixteen; she reads and understands nothing of politics. She is married to Guildford Dudley. The two do not know each other and are married by force. Then they come to love each other. Jane is queen for nine days. Then Mary comes. Trevor Nunn directs. Helena Bonham Carter plays Jane and Cary Elwes plays Guildford; John Wood and Patrick Stewart are in the cast. It is a British production, made in 1986. It is Helena Bonham Carter's first substantial film role. Trevor Nunn was known as a theatre director; this is among his few films. Its ground is real; Jane Grey was queen of England for nine days in 1553 and was executed. The narrative puts the relationship of the two young people at its centre and simplifies the history. The film also gives the couple political views; the two talk about land reform and poverty, and those passages are historically contested. The costume and the settings are detailed to the measure of a period film. The ending keeps to history and is bitter. Its limit is method; the narrative is romanticised, long, and weak on historical accuracy. Who it is for: viewers who like British period films and historical drama. Who it is not for: it is long, romanticised, and the ending bitter.