Customer Reviews
Incredible!!!! 
2008-02-16
This is one of my favorite movies of all time! Discovery of a love so deep and holding true to yourself and your beliefs no matter the consequences! A real lesson to us all! A must see!
Eh... 
2008-02-01
I was excited to see this movie but ultimately disappointed, mostly with the fact that it was turned so much into a love story between Jane and Guilford, when historically there was no love lost between them. I can understand feeling that the love story was needed to give the story some substance, but I think that idea is proven wrong when you read Alison Weir's superb new historical novel "Innocent Traitor", which, as far as I know, is far more accurate, and I couldn't put it down. It tells Jane's story from the time of her birth and truly illustrates the treachery and manipulativeness of her parents. And it makes it quite clear that Jane and Guilford were NOT in love.
To see the two of them falling for each other was boring to me-the politics of the succession are far more interesting, and to be honest after Bonham Carter's indifferent performance I really didn't care about Jane's happiness. And for someone who didn't want to be queen, she sure seems to be enjoying ordering people around in this movie. Bonham Carter didn't do it for me here and she does not do it for me as a much too old Anne Boleyn in the 2003 HBO series-she came off quite indifferent there too. Perhaps she just is not meant to play characters from this time period.
I hope they adapt Weir's novel into something, because the story really is fascinating, but it is not well executed here. (No pun intended).
A watchable enough period piece that loses almost everything of interest in the true story 
2007-12-16
"You will be tried... and naturally you will be condemned to death, but, of course, I have the power of reprieve, which at present I intend to use."
"With no conditions?"
"Well, it would help if you promised not to steal my throne again!"
While such direlogue is thankfully in the minority, Lady Jane is still a film that some of its makers still seem to pretend doesn't exist: a very undistinguished debut for Helena Bonham Carter that she never talks about and enough of a financial disaster for director Trevor Nunn to later claim that his 1996 version of Twelfth Night was his screen directorial debut. Made during the British film industry's dark days of the mid-80s in a failed attempt to recapture the audience for the likes of Anne of the Thousand Days and A Man For All Seasons, it was one of only two films made by Paramount's much-hyped British production arm before they shut up shop (the Ralph Fiennes-Juliette Binoche Wuthering Heights was the other). It may have opened to even more public indifference than Elizabeth: The Golden Age but it's rather better than you might expect even if it is never quite good enough.
Lady Jane Grey's brief nine day reign as queen of England had been given a much-fictionalised screen treatment before in 1936's Tudor Rose, but this version had some (almost entirely unrealised) aspirations towards historical accuracy even if it does turn Jane and her wastrel husband Guildford Dudley (a name that sounds more like a bicycle race than a possible king) into doomed lovers when they hated each other all the way to the executioners' block. Both were very much puppets of their parents' ambitions: the dying young King Edward's protector Lord Dudley wanted to ensure the elevation of his own family from commoners to nobility to royalty under the guise of ensuring the succession of a Protestant monarch to protect the fledging Reformed Church, and the social-climbing Suffolks rather liked the idea of becoming royalty (though it was actually Jane's mother who had precedence in the line of succession) while their offspring had no say in the matter even if it was to cost them their lives. The film is at its best in showing the conflict between a young generation that had embraced the then-excitement and new ideas of a religion rejecting Rome and without arcane ritual and an older generation that had either profited handsomely from the dissolution of the monasteries or had suffered grievously and wanted to restore the old religion and with it the old status quo, although it never makes the obvious link between Jane's ferocious religious fanaticism and the unhappy, unloved childhood that appears to have driven her towards it in much the same way that the ostracised Queen Mary was drawn to her fanatical Catholicism.
Unfortunately, Nunn's direction is even more of a major problem than a watered-down script. He's fine when people are talking, even if they're walking at the same time, yet any more complicated form of action seems completely beyond him. And in this case action doesn't just apply to a pub brawl that's shot like badly blocked and under-rehearsed 50s television but scenes like Lady Jane throwing a fit in a room and knocking the silverware on the floor while supporting players very, very slowly try not to catch up with her and stop her: the camera is in the wrong place, the timing wildly misjudged, the actors' movements horribly unconvincing. They're the kind of mistakes you'd expect from an amateur movie maker's first efforts, not someone with a decent budget and a cinematographer with as much experience as Douglas Slocombe to advise him, and they make you half-glad that the modest budget didn't stretch to filming the story's offscreen battles. He also gives away his theatre background by framing many shots as if for the proscenium arch, never really embracing the possibilities and freedom of the movie camera.
Nor does he get the most out of some of the cast. Old pros like John Wood, Michael Hordern, Jane Lapatoire and Joss Ackland are fine (though most of the older actors have little, if anything, to do), as are Warren Saire as the dying young King Edward and, for the most part, Cary Elwes as young Dudley, but Bonham Carter's performance is particularly problematic. Looking even younger than her character's 16 years and nothing like the freckle-faced redhead of history, her performance is often awkward and fairly consistently unlikeable, making Jane less a tragic figure and more of a petulant Catholic-baiting little madam who got what was coming to her, a Tudor Wednesday Addams rather than a Tudor Rose. At times she looks less like a lost soul than a panicking inexperienced actress deliberately cast adrift without being told what she's supposed to do, desperately looking to the sidelines for help that's not forthcoming, all too often leaving you feeling sorry for the actress but nothing for the character. To be fair it seems to be more a problem of direction and it's not hard to guess which scenes were shot first from her awkwardness, although she visibly gains confidence as the film progresses.
Yet it's not all bad. It does show what a disastrous queen she would have made, although the film does give the impression that Jane and Guilford were a pair of hippie libertarians - indeed, with its Romeo and Juliet love story and bucolic romantic montage sequence you almost get the impression that this was intended as a Franco Zeffirelli film a la Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Bonham Carter's brief scenes with Hordern's Dr Feckenham where they pit their faiths against each other are the best in the picture and it's a pity there aren't more of them in David Edgar's screenplay, while the end is touching despite being almost as clumsily staged as the real execution (it's a tastefully bloodless affair here, though, quite unlike the reports of the real thing: one observer was moved to note that he couldn't believe so much blood could come from such a small body). Stephen Oliver's excellent score is good enough to make it a genuine shame that he never got to write any more, adding him to that list of talented British composers like Marc Wilkinson and Raymond Leppard who never got the breaks their gifts deserved. At the end of the day it's a watchable enough period piece for a Sunday afternoon, but one that probably plays better on TV than it did on the big screen.
The widescreen 1.85:1 DVD transfer is acceptable, though the stereo track impresses more. The only extra is a decent black and white stills gallery.
Superior film,magnificent screenplay,historical license make LADY JANE a must see! 2007-10-11
After THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY V111 and before any of the "ELIZABETH's",( and the upcoming ELIZABETH:THE GOLDEN AGE with Cate Blanchett), PLEASE... stop and a take an earth-shattering look at LADY JANE with Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes.This is one sumptuous film from acting right down to the magnificent and stirring Stephen Oliver Soundtrack.The story of Lady Jane Grey helps fill in the period of time and the players in the English Religious "bloodbath" that occurred between the time Henry V111 dies and before his first daughter ,Catholic Mary Stuart a.k.a. "Bloody Mary" ascends the thrown and before Protestant Elizabeth becomes Queen of England.
The story of Lady Jane Grey is truly the saddest IMO of them all.Intelligent,well read and fifteen,Jane (Helena Bonham Carter) becomes the unwilling pawn of her parents and others to keep a Protestant on the throne.She is forced to marry Guilford Dudley (Cary Elwes),another reluctant young pawn in order to secure the English Throne.Jane Grey's parents were known to be awful towards her, and Sara Kestleman as Frances Grey is as cruel and sadistic as a mother could be.The screenplay is quite direct and accessible and the characters are well delineated
in order to keep a very central story moving along.Historically, the only real liberties are in the creation and assumption of what transpires in the lives of these two in the very brief nine days where they are on top of the world,as it were.If the love story is fabricated....who cares...it's a good one done by two wonderful young actors of their generation!!!For nine brief days, Jane ruled England.Did she ever really want to? Historians and the director,Trevor Nunn resounding say NO;but like most players in that time,many lost their heads either willingly or unwillingly either in pursuing or fleeing the crown!The rest of this film is downright accurate and quite compelling.
Of all the "English monarch films" I put LADY JANE at the "head" (or should I say "headless"!) top of the list.Anyone who follows the topic of the Catholic-Protestant "throne trade-off years" will love this one.This is a film to watch many times for its fine acting,cinematography,and educational value.Chances are.....you will cry because history is quite unfair to innocent people!
Lady Jane 2007-10-06
Lady Jane is a movie that has outstanding visual presentation (the costumes and cinematography). Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes are well cast as Lady Jane and Guilford Dudley. There is able support from Patrick Stewart and John Abbott. However, this movie is more idealized than accurate.
Lady Jane is little more than an avatar for 1960s idealism in this film. Having public schools, 20th Century style welfare programs were probably not on her agenda. This is what detracted from the film.
The actor playing John Dudley was a good portrayal. He really didn't care about the Protestant vs. Catholic conflict. He wanted to maintain the Dudley family fortunes.
The movie was disappointing in that the real Lady Jane Grey would have been a great movie. No temporopormorphizing was necessary.
For those wanting an accurate and interesting account of Lady Jane Grey, "Innocent Traitor" Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey and The Children of Henry VIII are recommended.
Lady Jane 2008-06-30
A little slow in the beginning. Sometimes child like. Better at the end.
Good Movie 
2008-06-29
This was a really good movie. The scenery and costumes were stunningly beautiful. Having read books about Lady Jane, I do not believe this movie to be entirely historically accurate,(especially the passion that Jane and Guilford shared in marriage - which contradicts most of what I have read about their relationship), but it was still entertaining. The ending was very moving and sad, but Jane stayed true to her Christian beliefs and lost her head over it. I would definitely recommend watching this movie!
Sad but True 2008-04-22
Having studied the very sad life of Lady Jane at school, it was so wonderful to see her life enacted by such a talented actress, and with such a talented supporting cast. Brilliant in every aspect. A MUST view if you know nothing about this young Queen. A must view if you enjoy English history.
A Nice Movie for a Saturday Afternoon 2008-04-08
This drama starting Helena Bonham Carter as the 15 year old Lady Jane Grey depicts the nine days of 1553 that Jane's rule as Queen before Princess Mary over throws her and assumes the throne. In an underhanded way of keeping the crown from the Church of Rome, Jane is forced into a position that she is unprepared for and when the lies and power struggles are revealed she and her new husband, Guilford Dudley (Cary Elwes) are imprisoned and sentenced to die. Apparently it's not historically accurate, but a nice love story, even if there is no proof that the real Jane and Guilford actually liked each other.
Great choice! 2008-03-21
I love this movie - one of my all time favorites! Helena Bonham Carter is great in it! Great story, good acting ... great message!
