The King and Queen have arranged marriages for all of their children, in the hope of forming political alliances, and Juana finds herself married against her will to Philip, Duke of Burgundy, son of the Holy Roman Emperor. Juana is the third of five children born to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, whose joint rule has brought together the two Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. Juana’s story is less well known (outside Spain, at least) and less often covered in historical fiction, but just as interesting and tragic. I think most of us will have heard of Juana’s younger sister, Katherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII who was divorced so that the King could marry Anne Boleyn, breaking away from Rome in the process. The first of our two queens is Juana of Castile, also known as Juana la Loca (‘the mad’), whose life is retold in fictional form in The Last Queen by C.W. Quite appropriate for c.1500 Spain/Flanders.I certainly wouldn’t, based on the stories of the two 16th century queens I’ve been reading about recently! In the good category, we have the ladies-in-waitings’ outfits. The female costumes were a mixed bag of “Hey, that’s not half bad” and “The Tudors in Spain.” I did notice that Philip was cavorting around on horseback without any hose, which had to chafe. The menswear was good, albeit so costume-y that it was obvious even on the shitty streaming copy on Amazon Prime Video (try to find an actual DVD copy of this film, because I’m pretty sure at least 25% of my irritation with it came from the downright crappy 15 year old VHS rip that Amazon is renting for $2.99).
Also, this is a movie set in late 15th-century Spain - an era and locale particularly known for it’s bizarre sartorial trends.
There were a few WTF moments, but that’s where the bar is set these days so, meh. Meh Costuming in Mad LoveĪlright, scripting and acting aside, let’s talk a bit about the costuming. Over all, I’d say it’s an ok-to-decent costuming flick. This is what happens when you do your research at the ren faire. Severing that link by encouraging his son-in-law into an annulment is just plain stupid.īut what is most offensive is that as this conversation is taking place THEY ARE CHOWING DOWN ON TURKEY LEGS WITH THEIR HANDS. Ferdinand was only King of Castile by right of his wife, so his only claim to that kingdom would now be through his daughter.
So, annulment just doesn’t make sense, let alone it being proposed by Juana’s father. Juana had already given him three healthy heirs by that point, two of whom were male. There is some truth to the notion that Philip may have eventually tried annulling his marriage on account of Juana’s madness had he lived, but there’s no real proof he ever intended to go that far.
This foreshadowing of the same ordeal that Juana’s little sister, Catherine of Aragon, would experience with her husband Henry VIII is a little far-fetched for my tastes. He informs Philip that he is absolutely 110% down with having Juana declared crazy and locked away forever, and even hints at the idea that Philip can have the marriage annulled, thereby freeing him to marry again (to the Satan-worshiping Moorish prostitute? I guess anyone is better than crazy-pants Juana). The characters never actually develop any kind of relationship that would make me feel like there’s been a betrayal worthy of losing one’s shit.Īixa does get a pretty dress for about 15 seconds, though.įerdinand, Juana’s father, is thrown in mid-way through the film without really any introduction. She claims she’s mad with passion for Philip, but I just see a lot of screaming and throwing stuff, mutual spousal abuse, and frankly, she seems more like a two-year-old having a meltdown because she can’t have Philip at her beck and call constantly, than a woman who is so madly in love with her husband that she can’t deal with reality.Īlso, yeah, the whole “he gets to sleep with whomever he pleases while she has to sit around waiting for him to come to her” sucks, but it’s not exactly a good reason to just flip the switch into full-on psycho abusive behavior, which is basically how this movie portrays her “madness.” Philip gets her pregnant, starts sleeping around, and then all of a sudden Juana is balls-to-the-wall violently abusive. Philip is, at most, two-dimensional, and Juana is not so much driven mad by love for Philip as she is petty jealousy. I think I’m supposed to feel my heartstrings being yanked as Juana goes about screaming in the rain that she’s mad after she finds out her mother is dead, and then promptly finds her husband in the arms of another woman, but … Ugh.
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