A screenplay that plays fast and loose with history is tempered by some smart cinematography and costume design in Mary Queen of Scots

Queens on screen: we can’t get enough of them. Following the majestic romp of Olivia Colman in The Favourite comes Mary Queen of Scots, which offers two sovereigns for the price of one. Double the number, alas, doesn’t make for double the fun, and Josie Rourke, an accomplished theatre director on her film-making debut, struggles mightily to keep this elaborate costume soufflé from collapsing. 

The story of Mary Stuart and her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, is historical catnip, of course, in terms of dramatic rivalry: Scotland versus England, Catholic versus Protestant, kin versus kin. A titanic clash of royal egos is in prospect, with the English throne as takeaway prize. Rourke and her screenwriter, Beau Willimon (American version of House of Cards), have chosen a different angle on the pair, one that locates a feminist undercurrent to their supposed battle of wills. Mary (Saoirse Ronan) and Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) might have been sisters under the skin, soulmates even, had they not been compromised by their suitors and advisers – men, in short.