Are you ready for Oscar season? No, but are you really ready? Because it’s coming sooner than you think. Just because it’s 105 degrees outside doesn’t mean we won’t all be watching classy prestige dramas about people in starchy wigs really soon. Like, for example, Mary Queen of Scots which is opening the first weekend of December and surely hoping for major awards attention for its pair of stars, Saoirse Ronan (as the title character) and Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I.

Based on the trailer, both women have meaty roles here, and there’s a fair amount of gender politics to their battle for control of England and Scotland. Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

Mary Queen of Scots explores the turbulent life of the charismatic Mary Stuart (Ronan). Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, Mary defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. But Scotland and England fall under the rule of the compelling Elizabeth I (Robbie).  Each young Queen beholds her “sister” in fear and fascination. Rivals in power and in love, and female regents in a masculine world, the two must decide how to play the game of marriage versus independence. Determined to rule as much more than a figurehead, Mary asserts her claim to the English throne, threatening Elizabeth’s sovereignty. Betrayal, rebellion, and conspiracies within each court imperil both thrones – and change the course of history.

Mary, Queen of Scots opens in theaters on December 7.

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