In a series of finely written voice-over monologues, Mary writes to her English cousin Elizabeth. This device moves the narrative forward, allowing Imbach to touch on key moments in Mary’s life. Joining these moments together are wonderfully evocative visual and musical interludes, marrying landscapes and music to create an unsettled mood. Not that the film is experimental; a cinematic rigour has been applied to its subject. Indeed, most of the salient facts of Mary’s life are dealt with – her marriage to the dauphin, her return to Scotland upon his premature death, the struggles between Catholics and Protestants, her marriage to Lord Darnley and her relationship with the Earl of Bothwell. ~ tiff
Mary Queen of Scots spends her childhood in France and is meant to become also Queen of France. However, her ailing husband dies and the young widow returns alone to Scotland, a country devastated by war. Elizabeth has just become Queen of England, for Mary she is like a twin sister to whom she can open her heart. Mary weds again and gives birth to an heir to the thrown. Her second husband, Lord Darnley, proves to be a weakling. When Mary finds the love of her life, the Earl of Bothwell, she has Darnley murdered and marries Bothwell. Horrified by this deed and the blind passion that motivated it, both the nobles and the people of Scotland spurn her.