She also happens to be mother of the reporter breaking the story that a comet is about to wipe out life on Earth. This is a quintessential slice of Brit Lit from the Merchant Ivory team, and catnip for fans of costume drama with lashings of period detail.
The awards ceremony was duly picketed by the far-right Jewish Defense League. More tasteful Merchant Ivory shenanigans as Redgrave does a creditable job of injecting vitality into the character of Olive Chancellor, suffragist and repressed lesbian.
She is certainly livelier than the strait-laced cousin from Mississippi Christopher Reeve , vying with her for the affections of a charismatic young woman. Redgrave received her third Oscar nomination for playing the Scottish queen, a naive romantic outmanoeuvred by savvy Queen Elizabeth I Glenda Jackson.
The screenplay is overstuffed with exposition-heavy dialogue, but the two leads are good value. Who killed Samuel Ratchett? As Mary Debenham, an English governess who plans to marry Colonel Arbuthnott Sean Connery , Redgrave slots seamlessly into the all-star cast of suspects.
Literally and figuratively, Redgrave towers over Tom Cruise in the first — and best — of the M:I franchise. As convivial arms dealer Max, she gives a masterclass in the art of scene-stealing, and probably has more sexual chemistry with the star than any of his other leading ladies.
