Elizabeth in Film - Fire over England, The Virgin Queen and Shakespeare in Love

Fire over England- Flora Robson

As the film is shot in black and white it is more difficult to see whether Flora Robson has been made up with the pale face and rouged cheeks. However looking at her comparatively against the other people in the film, she does look sightly paled out.

 The main focus of her look is the hair. Although she doesn't seem to have the drastic hairline as some of the other actresses do in their portrayals of Elizabeth, she is still shown to be in character through the hair that is used. She is still displaying the elaborate hairstyles with the elaborate adornments and the same texture. One part of the film that I found rather intriguing is that they specifically show Elizabeth taking off her wig as she is getting ready for bed. This showed the colour contrast between the darker colour of the wig and her natural hair (as best as I could see with the black and white), which is probably what it was like for her. I thought this was interesting because it breaks down a barrier of this image we have of Elizabeth and shows everything that she has to go through to transform into the Queen. 

Davies, J. (no date) C16th makeups: Fire over England. Available at: http://www.themakeupgallery.info/period/c16/uk/elizabeth/fire.htm
(Accessed: 8 December 2015).

The Virgin Queen - Anne Marie Duff

This was the most drastic transformation for playing Elizabeth, she had her hairline shaved back, along with her eyelashes & eyebrows bleached, and she has prosthetics applied to show the progression in age. She is shown from her adolescence to her death. 

At the beginning she is shown to be very plain, with very simple hair and no makeup, this continues into her being crowned. As the film progresses her hair gets darker and the styles are shown to be much more elaborate and adorned. Prosthetics were applied to her face and body to show her change in age, making her look older, one that particularly stood out to me is her at her oldest. 

Kendra (2014) The virgin queen. Available at: http://www.frockflicks.com/the-virgin-queen/
(Accessed: 8 December 2015).

As shown in the picture above, she has been made to look like she is nearly on her death bed. The intricacy and detail of the work is mesmerising and shows a complete transformation between the Elizabeth that is shown at the beginning of the film to this Elizabeth at the end. 

Shakespeare in Love - Judi Dench

Even though she isn't featured in the film for too long, she still had to undergo an extensive makeup transformation in order to become Elizabeth. She seemed to have had a bald cap applied so that her high forehead would blend in well with the red wig and make it look more realistic. Her wig is seen in the traditional heart-shape along with the typical texture and adornments. In comparison to other portrayals of Elizabeth, her makeup isn't as drastic, she still has the typical white face, lightly rouged cheeks and very faint eyebrows. In comparison to the makeup in Elizabeth R, which by the end was very full on and dramatic, this seems to be more muted and probably similar to what they would've been able to achieve in Elizabethan times. 

Davies, J. (no date) Judi Dench in ‘Shakespeare in Love’ | Queen Elizabeth I | sixteenth-century Britain | period makeups. Available at: http://www.themakeupgallery.info/period/c16/uk/elizabeth/shakespearejd.htm (Accessed: 8 December 2015).