A girl’s dream is to become a queen, but would they still want to be after seeing this? This is an historical movie about the life of Queen Joan of Castile. What makes this historical different from others is that this focused more on the “madness” or the mental illness of the queen. Political aspects or her being a mother was almost concealed in the movie.
The film was obviously character driven. The movie revolved around Queen Joan as to know the cause of her insanity. It begins with showing her at a very old age, imprisoned, talking about her love and affection to his husband, King Philip “The handsome”. This then turns into a flashback showing how she was forced to marry Archduke Philip of Flanders to strengthen political ties. From this point on, the reason as to why she had gone mad were shown. . There were surprising moments like the time she gave birth to her daughter by herself. The ending was how I expected it to be, death of the king.
What made the movie more effective are the actors and actresses themselves. Pilar Lopez de Ayala, as Joan, portrayed her role well. She both showed her role as being a queen of Spain, yet being obsessively in love with her husband. Daniele Liotti, as King Philip, wasn’t as good. Although he had portrayed it well, as a womanizer and a selfish king, more would have been done. He gave similar stares and emotions throughout the movie that almost made him dull. The minimal act maybe because the director wanted us to only see him that way. But, a shift of emotion changed during the ending when he was dying and asking for Joan’s forgiveness. I really felt his sincerity, but unfortunately he was never forgiven.
The movie is mainly about love. A love that is too much that it leads to madness. The love that the queen has for her husband is so great that she had forgotten her duties. This then brings up questions such as love or career; heart or mind? Such questions are still dealt with today. Numerous people whom I’ve known are obsessed with their love that they’ll give up anything just for them. A symbolism showing the Joan’s pure love for his husband is the time when the king was dying and she kissed him, even at his chest filled with bloody lumps. The movie has also traced why she is seen as mad woman. Who wouldn’t be if you find out the death of your mother plus the unfaithfulness of your husband in one day? But in today’s modern world, she acting that way may be seen as normal. It happens nowadays, especially the obsession with sex. According to Wikipedia.org, “Most historians now agree that she had melancholia, severe clinical depression, a psychosis, or a case of inherited schizophrenia at the time, and was not insane or 'mad' as was commonly believed.” Her way of thinking must be of a modern woman. She was born way past her time. The way she breast fed her child shows it. Another that symbolized her desperation to feel her husband’s love is how she’d always spread her legs in front of her husband. There is another thing shown by the movie is the people’s capability to sin as shown by King Philip. He cheated, lied, and longed to have all power. The dark spell conducted by Aixa, the king’s favorite mistress, symbolizes how something so dark could happen anywhere. Sin could happen anywhere, even at places we thought was pure. This part of the movie though is just made up. Aixa never really existed during that time which goes to show that this historical movie is mixed with a hint of fiction.
The setting was nicely done. It was how anyone would imagine 16th century Europe. This made the movie believable. The clothes worn were detailed as well as the lighting. The sex scenes shown also helped, not only to get people’s attention but also to show the character’s emotions. The use of voice over was essential for some scenes were not easily understandable by simply watching it. Overall, the movie was great. I highly recommend anyone to watch this film and see how they’d judge the Queen.
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