ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the focus is on representations of queens other than Elizabeth I. Films examined are Cecil B. DeMille’s and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s versions of Cleopatra (1934 and 1963) and W.S. Van Dyke II’s and Sophia Coppola’s portrayals of Marie Antoinette (1938 and 2006). The chapter ends with an examination of two contemporary political biopics: The Queen (Stephen Frears, 2006), a portrait of the currently sitting British monarch, and The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd, 2011) about former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.