Since the trailer's release in June 2018, it faced a wave of criticism - all coming from historians and the Tudors fans. Which is definitely cause for alarm.
After the sudden success of Game of Thrones series, it seems that medieval period drama has a chance for its revival - suddenly Hollywood producers see some potential in dressing their lead actors in chain mail and corsets. This is exactly what Mary, Queen of Scots is - two new super-recognisible Hollywood stars in an attempt to revive period drama, playing two incredible historical figures in a promising - juicy, political, feminist - film. No doubt this one has attracted just as much media as The Other Boleyn Girl when it was being advertised, thanks to the amazing cast, of course.
And just like with The Other Boleyn Girl, it will probably backfire and put off the very audience these films should aim to please, just like Marvel appeals to comics readers with their intertextuality, references and more or less true-to-the-originals concepts. History buffs and period lovers.
Seeing Mary speak with a strong Scottish accent immediately strikes the nerve - the girl was coronated when she was only 6 days old and 6 years later she was sent off to France as the future bride for the dauphin of France. She only returned to Scotland at the age of 21 and couldn't possibly have her native accent or even have a proper connection to homeland. She was a French lady through and through and was technically queen of France for a year, before her husband's death and her return to Scotland.
As many historians point out, neither did she meet up or befriend Elizabeth. The two had a complicated relationship, both being heiresses to the English throne after the death of Bloody Mary and according to multiple changes in the line of succession... Never mind them both being extremely strong-willed and ambitious for their time, they definitely had similarities that could have driven to their friendship had they the chance to meet in person. However, they never did - hence Elizabeth's eventual decision to execute her cousin and rival.
On the other hand, it's easy to understand the directorial choice: always create as many conflicts as possible, 'show not tell' etc, so any filmmaker would be tempted to have the two queens face one another and argue in person rather than giving Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan boring diplomatic narration lines to read out. Of course.
To have such powerhouse, Oscar-nominated actors like Ronan and Robbie star in a movie and never put them in a scene together would be a wasted opportunity.
Bustle
However, that changes things. The meeting depicted in the trailer doesn't fit with their authentic characters, with the facts and other powers playing in. It is just lazy filmmaking.
Unless, of course, what we see in the trailer is a part of a dream sequence or a 'what could have been' version - like that in La-La-Land. But in this case, whose dream sequence? Would it be Elizabeth - imagining the worst of her stubborn and proud rival, and then making the decision to execute her fellow queen.
However, this scenario seems unlikely to play out - from what we see in the trailer, the creative team decided to bring in the rumours of the two queens meeting in person. There are several problems with it - primarily being disrespectful of source material on a subject that's very well-researched and well-known to the target audience.
Will mainstream audiences care? Probably not, if we're talking about the people who haven't heard of Mary Stuart and know next to nothing about the Tudor times in England. American audiences might not care - they'll enjoy a dramatic tale of two strong women, equal in their rights to the desired English throne, and one doomed to fail and let the other one rule.
From the cinematic point of view, introducing a scene of their meeting gives the story the catharsis it needs, that breaking point in the perfectly structured Hollywood plot line.
However, it is not a 'feminist kick', as it is called in the Bustle article about the possible reasons for making the change. The story in itself is feminist enough - representing the most powerful and well-known female monarch in the world and her rival as leading figures of the story. The film couldn't have been more feminist in its Hollywood message and choice of actresses in 2018 (with the #metoo movement, Wonder Woman, On the Basis of Sex etc taking over film industry), and the explicitly inaccurate face-to-face meeting actually doesn't do anything for the film in that perspective.
In fact, it would be perhaps an even more powerful message to follow historical facts and have the queens fight over the distance, with no ability to see each other's faces. If these two powerful women, who might have sympathy for each other and a common understanding, are being manipulated by their male advisors, with no chance of seeing things for themselves, drawn by their fears of the unknown and judging each other by letters only and their diplomats' words... Surely, that makes Mary's execution even more dramatic and makes the message even clearer? If not for that physical separation and schemes of men, the two women could have become friends and saved each other and their countries? What a more bland and pro-women message can Hollywood come up with?
Instead we are promised two stubborn, paranoid women who even in person can't put their pride aside and reach a compromise. Even after years of ongoing communication through letters, blood relation and a deep similarity of their positions as queens in 17th century, in patriarchal countries... Still, they remain enemies.
If anything, this alone undermines their characters. The only way the filmmakers can save the story and compensate for allowing such a major historical inaccuracy - is to make that scene the most dramatic it can be, with the best dialogue, acting and directing there can be (which should be doable with the film's resources and A-listed actresses). Will they succeed? We'll see in November 2018.
Mary Queen of Scots backlash for 'false' portrayal of a meeting between the Scottish monarch and Queen Elizabeth I, The Telegraph
A Doomed, Romantic Queen? – Guest Post by historian Linda Porter, The Anne Boleyn Files
Did Mary & Elizabeth Really Meet? 'Mary Queen Of Scots' Rewrites Royal History To Make It Feminist, Bustle
Deadly Rivals: Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, History Extra
Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, History on the Net
The relationship of Elizabeth I & Mary Queen of Scots in letters – part one, The Crown Chronicles
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