The fascinating story of the Scottish queen: costume drama by Swiss director Thomas Imbach ("Day is Done").

Picture gallery

One of the first movies ever made was "The Execution of Mary Stuart" by Thomas Edison, in 1895. Not surprising, as the fate of the unlucky queen – who was imprisoned at 24 by her cousin Queen Elisabeth of England and executed 19 years later – has always inspired literary giants, from Edmund Spenser to Friedrich Schiller, as well as filmmakers, to tell the story of a woman who risked everything and lost it all.

Thomas Imbachs fourth feature film is a costume drama more interested in the psychological conflicts of its main character than great battle scenes. Imbach and his co-screenwriters Andrea Staka and Eduard Habsburg tell this dramatic story – masterfully captured by Rainer Klausmanns camera – in some instances extremely stylized, in others with great momentum. Unpredictable and always trusting that the audience is paying proper attention, this movie is quintessentially in the style of Thomas Imbach.