They say that the past is another country: and that country,
my friends, is Belgium.
Henry and I have been watching The White Queen with some amusement. I know one is not really supposed to take it
seriously, but we were intrigued by this latest offering from the BBC when we
found out it was to take place during the War of the Roses. Anything that isn't about the done-to-death middle
Tudors is fine by me; but perhaps more importantly, our shared great-great-uncle Richie claimed to have fought for the house of
York at the battle of St Albans. A great
deal of absinthe having been taken, we naturally assumed that he meant he’d
bought a return ticket to York at St Albans Abbey Railway Station, but
one can never be completely sure.
Based on Philippa Gregory's historical novel series The Cousins' War, the series is meant to
be a rearguard action for feminism as it focuses on the women caught up in the
conflict and their quest for power, chiefly Elizabeth Woodville (Rebecca
Ferguson), Lady Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale) and Lady Anne Neville (Faye
Marsay).
 |
|
Feminism never
looked so dramatic
|
The focus has been on Elizabeth and Lady Margaret in the
first two episodes, and to be honest my Suffragette genes have not exactly been
stirring yet. Yes, the women are the
focus, but they are still being played with by the men (politically and
otherwise). I'm still waiting for the
major power-plays promised. There is
still time though, as I believe it is a ten-part series.
Naturally, we have some other thoughts so far.
Firstly, there’s the enthusiastic cheapness of the series –
not merely in the realm of scenes obviously shot in hotels with electric lamps,
zips, etc. – but in the absence of texture, particularly crowds. The Yorkist revolution of 1461 was a massive,
mass-participation event that involved, according to Professor Charles Ross,
'all the then known propaganda devices: political songs and poems, ballads and
rhymes, broadsheets pinned up in public places ... the harnessing of the papal
legate to invest them with clerical blessing, addresses to convocation,
political sermons at St Paul’s Cross, the use of every possible ceremonial
precedent in the ceremonies of accession and coronation ... [and] the
production of a number of genealogical rolls taking their supposed descent
right back through the earlier kings of England and the Roman emperors to the
kings of Israel, at least as far back as Jehosophat.'
 |
|
Yeah, him. You know the guy
|
And yet, even in the coronation scenes and street scenes, we
hardly see a soul who is not an aristocrat, and it's all suspiciously clean and
tidy too. When King Edward IV (Max
Irons) tells his wife to go and raise the city of London in his cause, we are
left wondering what he means; even his 'army' never seems to boast more than
about forty chaps on screen at once, which in turn seems to become a plot
element when he is captured, rather (one supposes) too easily. In reality, no-one of his importance tended to go about without a dozen mounted
longbowmen as bodyguards – as my ancestor ‘Snatcher’ McBalantyre found out to
his cost when jumping out of the bushes at Princess Marjory in the summer of
1381.
 |
|
There were some
lessons he still needed to learn.
|
The series was budgeted at £25 million and filmed on
location in Belgium, where several landmarks in Bruges and Ghent represent
locations in London and elsewhere.
However, despite such a small budget for such a long series, you’d have
thought the production could rummage up a few crowds. Offer a decent lunch and over half my own
family would have turned up to mob someone.
(Not too decent, mind, or they might get carried away, forget acting,
and actually mob someone.) The Other
One would probably do it for free; not only would it raise her acting profile
back home as the series is also commissioned by U.S. channel Starz [sic], but her pregnancy hormones would welcome
the chance to biff someone over the head with a mace, whether the script called
for it or not.
Henry does enjoy that the nobility and gentry do not seem
excessively 'polished', which is realistic
for the century in question, and in this regard, both Lord Warwick (James
Frain) and Elizabeth Woodville's father, Baron Rivers
(Robert Pugh), are particular well cast and directed.
Another stand-out performance, we
feel, was from future Queen Mother Margaret Beaufort. Her superb religious craziness seemed wasted
in a show that mostly looks and feels like an amateur production from the
Midlands c.1985, but Ms. Hales is
definitely one to keep an eye on – especially as this the third solid
performance we've seen from her, after Ripper
Street and Being Human. I shall be looking out for her in future.
All that being said, however, my main gripe with this
production is its rather peculiar time-line: not from anything so bourgeois as
an ‘accuracy of historical events point of view’, but from a 'this is making it
impossible to watch' point of view.
 |
|
Hey, it's like
watching Thelma
& Louise!
|
The pregnancy Elizabeth Woodville goes through in the
beginning of episode two is either too long or too short, but it’s hard to
tell. The date only appears at the
beginning of the episode, and then we're left to figure it out as they
occasionally throw in the odd '[…] Years Later' subtitle. How she managed three daughters that appear
the same age 'Three Years Later' may be revelatory of some lost scientific
marvel; but then, Ms. Gregory has made her a witch, among other things. She seems to have a habit of turning
historical rumour into major storylines, which I do not buy, either in
particular or in general.
What was particularly galling was future Henry VII. He doesn't appear to age at all, and we were
left wondering if he had even changed his clothes. The poor lad is stuck at five years old – probably
until the producers cotton on and he suddenly turns into a strapping young lad
ready for the throne.
 |
|
Is
it king time now, Mummy?
|
On balance, I think we'll keep tuning in. I want to see Lady Margaret Beaufort's story
progress, and Lady Anne Neville hasn't had her chance to shine yet either.
However, do tune out before tuning in. It'll be far easier on the brain.
