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I recently re-watched clips of this film. Some of the scenes were very authentic and well acted while others dragged but overall I thought it was good. The end was very sad, even somewhat traumatic for me. It was very refreshing to see Helena Bonham-Carter that young (it was her first lead role on screen), kind of reminding me of the young Olivia Hussey and her role in the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet. Speaking of Romeo and Juliet, a lot of other folks in the internet said that director Trevor Nunn deliberately altered the story between Jane and Guilford to have a strong romance together (according to historic accounts, they did not) as if to emulate Romeo and Juliet.
I actually wonder if Trevor did his research and deliberately fused the life stories of Jane and Katherine Grey, her younger sister who suffered a nearly equally tragic fate, so to make the storyline more interesting. Jane and Guilford may not have had a romantic spark but Katherine and her husband Edward Seymour most certainly did. In short words, Katherine and their other sister Mary were retained as maids of honor to Queen Mary after Jane's execution (the Grey sisters and their mother were actually quite close to Mary which partly explains why Mary was so hesitant to have Jane executed until she really had to). After Queen Mary died, Elizabeth of course becomes queen and almost immediately hits a bad note with Katherine, whom she saw as a potential heir but also a rival - they were only 7 years apart in age and both arguably very attractive young women). For Katherine couldn't resist her impulses to marry the man she truly loved, Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, and the two secretly married behind the queen's back. When Elizabeth found out Katherine not only married for love a member of another noble family but was also pregnant with Edward's child, she imprisoned Katherine in the Tower of London in no time and sent Edward there too albeit in separate quarters just like Jane and Guilford in the movie. While imprisoned, Katherine gives birth to a boy but the story doesn't end there. For the prison warders were sympathetic to the young couple and secretly allowed them to see each other from time to time just like how we can imagine those intimate scenes in the movie. The result was the birth of another baby boy and when Queen Elizabeth found out, she went bombastic. The Queen forcefully split the couple apart, left Edward with their older son in the Tower, exiled Katherine and her younger son to her distant uncle and for the next 7 years, she suffered humiliation, indignation, poor health, and increasing depression. Katherine wrote repeatedly to Elizabeth for forgiveness but the Queen refused to forgive her and she finally dies of tuberculosis at the tender age of 27. It is a savage life story isn't it?
While watching those intimate scenes in the Tower between Jane and Guilford, I kept thinking "That's not Jane and Guiford! That's Katherine and Edward making love!". That "the next time I see you I want you for eternity" belongs more to Katherine than Jane! Maybe Nunn should have directed a film about Katherine and Edward instead. And if you agree with me that HBC was stunningly beautiful in the film, well perhaps she should have played Lady Katherine instead. History tells us Jane was actually freckle faced and plainer looking, Katherine was the true beauty among the Sisters Grey. Actually I now think HBC would have made a very good young Queen Victoria back then as well.
But I don't think Katherine Grey was as smart or as interesting as Jane was. Why on earth did she jump into bed with Edward Seymour, albeit a supposed marital bed, without getting the queen's permission first? I don't think she was pushed to marry him as Jane was pushed to marry Guildford.
Lady Jane is a bittersweet movie with some good performances, though occasionally melodramatic. I love it that they included John Feckenham and his admiration for Jane, despite his being a Catholic churchman.
This is one of my favorite movies. Now I need to rewatch it!
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