Elizabeth

England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear - that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her death - is realised. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers beg her to marry anyone of her would-be suitors to stabilize England's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley is married, however, and shows he cannot stand up to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham, Elizabeth strikes against her enemies before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails rejecting love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen.
Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth is a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war.