This was former Royal Shakespeare Company director Trevor Nunn's second venture into movies (his first was the 1975 adaptation of Ibsen's Hedda, starring Glenda Jackson) and it's as wordy and weighty as you might expect. Playwright David Edgar has woven a story of political intrigue around Lady Jane Grey, who became queen in her teens but then was overthrown by Mary Tudor. His screenplay casts Jane in a new light, as a 16th century social reformer who takes pity on the downtrodden peasantry and returns their land to them. The period detail and lavish sets including 11 Tudor castles give an air of grandeur, but the real interest lies in the relationship between religious, reclusive Lady Jane (Helena Bonham Carter) and her enforced husband, the wild wastrel Guilford Dudley, son of the scheming Duke of Northumberland. Although it's decently acted, Lady Jane lacked the cinematic scope to make it a box-office success.


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