Review of Lady Jane

I give this film a 7 our of ten with an important caveat-it is far more inaccurate historically than any decent historical film should be. I am not talking about the small kind of details than many historically oriented people might complain about... I'm talking about the major details such as the focus on reforming the shilling, which is made to look like a major accomplishment of Jane's even though it did not occur at all in her very very short reign. Most of this film is completely fabricated, from the depiction of her personality to the relationship with her husband. The only thing that is true is that she was used as a pawn by people around her who wanted a protestant queen instead of Catholic queen....and their misuse of her in this plot cost her her life. In all likelihood, so much of the biographical details are fictionalized because we have so little information on what she was really like.

The reason I give the film so high a rating is that its a total guilty pleasure for someone who likes a a bit of historical drama. Helena B-Carter is great as a a Jane that is willful, but both strong and vulnerable at the same time She's a pleasure to watch in this, even if we have little information to suggest how Jane herself was. I also like the complexity of the relationship with her husband, even though by most historic accounts, he was a drunken louse and there's no reason to believe they won each others hearts as they did in the film. In short, this is a reasonably well written and presented historical drama, even if not a great representation of Jane and her life.