Lady Jane

"Some of the greatest battles are fought with the heart."

1986 2h 22m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 115

DramaRomanceHistory

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The death of King Henry VIII throws his kingdom into chaos because of succession disputes. His weak son, Edward, is on his deathbed. Anxious to keep England true to the Reformation, a scheming minister John Dudley marries off his son, Guildford to Lady Jane Grey, whom he places on the throne after Edward dies. At first hostile to each other, Guildford and Jane fall in love, but they cannot withstand the course of power which will lead to their ultimate downfall.

“Some of the greatest battles are fought with the heart.”

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Cast

Helena Bonham Carter
Lady Jane Grey
Cary Elwes
Guilford Dudley
John Wood
John Dudley, Duke of Nothumberland
Patrick Stewart
Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk
Joss Ackland
Sir John Bridges
Michael Hordern
Dr. Feckenham
Jane Lapotaire
Princess Mary
Ian Hogg
Sir John Gates

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Trevor Nunn
Writers: David Edgar, Chris Bryant
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 3% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

40 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Trevor Nunn, shot by Douglas Slocombe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Stephen Oliver. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Anne V. Coates shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes and John Wood carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Some of the greatest battles are fought with the heart.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0091374 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Trevor Nunn directs. Douglas Slocombe behind the camera. Stephen Oliver scores. Anne V. Coates cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 3% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
240 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Trevor Nunn, shot by Douglas Slocombe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Stephen Oliver. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Anne V. Coates shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes and John Wood carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Some of the greatest battles are fought with the heart.".
8IMDB entry: tt0091374 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Original score: Stephen Oliver
Editing: Anne V. Coates
Production design: Allan Cameron
Costume design: David Perry
Makeup / hair: Lynda Armstrong
Runtime: 142 min · 2h 22m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,500,000
Box office: $277,646
Return: 3% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: Lady Jane (1986)

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Trevor Nunn

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-11-17
★ 7/10
With Henry VIII recently dead and his young son Edward VI (Warren Saire) on the throne, the noble families of England are rapidly positioning themselves to provide him with a wife, or even better, an heir. It's the scheming Northumberland (John Wood) who conceives a plan with the equally ambitious Suffolk (Patrick Stewart) and his wife (Sara Kestelman) to marry his own son Guilford (Cary Elwes) to their daughter Jane (Helena Bonham Carter) so that her tenuous claim to the throne could be better upheld when the sickly young king died. Aware that the public would have little stomach for such an arrangement, and that the Princess Mary (Jane Lapotaire) would not give up her rights to succeed easily, this is a perilous course for these two families to take. Luckily, though, the young Jane is no match for their machinations and soon both she and her new husband are but pawns in a grander game. What the parents don't quite anticipate is that the couple actually start to fall in love, and begin to think that with her on the throne then maybe good can come of this usurpation. Can she survive for long enough once Edward is dead? It's an history, so we know what happened to whom and when, but as a well crafted drama it looks good and HBC and Elwes manage a degree of chemistry that works quite engagingly as the writing becomes increasingly on the wall for the pair. Wood and Kestelman also deliver quite effectively here as the schemers-in-chief, and as the plot thickens we do get a sense of just how powerless these young people were in the face of ambitious men who cared little for the wishes of their children or their country. It is too long, and could lose twenty minutes - especially at the start - without compromising this chronology of a woman little known to posterity but whom, if writer Chris Bryant is to be believed, might have made for a decent Queen of England.

Production companies