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The Queen (Stephen Frears)
A docudrama cheifly recounting the week after Diana's death and how both the Royal Family and the Prime Minister handled the news, it's given weight and interest by Helen Mirren's excellent central performance. The film starts with Tony Blair (played by Michael Sheen) meeting the Queen after his landslide victory in May of 1997. He is respectful though awkward around the Crown, and the Queen and her inner circle including husband Prince Philip (James Cromwell) and Her private secretary Robin Janvrin (Roger Allam) don't seem to think much of the new Prime Minister. Then the narrative leaps to Saturday August 31st, 1997 and the car accident in Paris that took the life of Diana. Though they had separated in 1992, Charles and Diana's divorce had only been official for a year when she died. She had been stripped of the Her Royal Highness designation, but through her high-profile charity work and worldwide celebrity status she was far more popular than The Royal Family. And that is the central conflict of The Queen.
Standing on tradition and what she believes her subjects and the world stage expect from the monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II and the Family do not make a public statement in the days after the news. The entire Family was in residence at their Balmoral Estate in the Scottish countryside when Diana died, and it is decided that they will remain there rather than return to London. Diana was no longer their concern in any official way it is reasoned, and the Queen thinks it would be better for William and Harry to begin dealing with the loss of their mother in private rather than the scrutinty and hot glare of media attention back at Buckingham Palace. And besides all that, whatever affection she once had for Diana has long since been exhausted. The public, however, still has deep reservoirs of love, and during the Sunday and Monday after the news hit, hundreds of thousands of British citizens brought flowers and candles to the Palace gates in tribute. This confused the Queen, but did not change her mind. Blair on the other hand recognized the groundswell of emotion immediately from the perfect storm of Diana's celebrity and the nature of her death and urged Her Majesty to acknowledge Diana publically. She refused, and soon the wrath of the Press and a seemingly large portion of the people was aimed not at the Paparazzi who caused the accident but at the Royal Family who seemed so out of touch with the event, their feelings and the times in general.
Not to spoil recent history for anyone, but by week's end The Queen does decide to return to London in time for the public funeral and makes a live national address. The movie imagines what the emotional turnaround in The Queen specifically might have been like. Mirren, who has been an excellent actress for a long time, may finally have won her Oscar. She plays the public, the private and the political aspects of Elizabeth II perfectly. While the initial reactions to Diana's death can seem cold - and were certainly perceived as cold by many, the film delves into what's behind that Royal facade, and throughout the week how and why she changes. It's a layered and ultimately very sympathetic portrayal. The Tony Blair of the movie is largely sympathetic if a bit whiny, and Michael Sheen does well enough. Alex Jennings plays Prince Charles, and in the first half of the film he is tender and admirable. His emotional response to Diana's death and quiet outrage at his Mother and Father's reactions are very well done. But in the second half Charles is painted as an insecure and even paranoid twit. The Queen only peripherally addresses the details of Charles and Diana's marraige and the Camilla factor (Camilla is not portrayed in the movie), and while William and Harry are in the film they are not the focus and are purposefully kept in the background, as is their grief. Frears and the script aren't interested in those tabloid aspects. Allam is quite good as the Queen's secretary, who realized long before She did that the initial judgement was incorrect. Mark Bazeley gets some of the film's best lines as Blair's top advisor and speech writer Alastair Campbell, somebody who has little regard or use for the monarchy. James Cromwell is appropriately cold and old fashioned as Philip.
The plot of sitting around an isolated estate and taking a bunch of phonecalls deciding if a trip should be made to London is more engaging than it may seem on paper because of Mirren's work and Stephen Frears' tone and focus. There aren't any real suprises, other than perhaps the conversation between The Queen and The Queen Mother where Elizabeth II is so dumbstruck by the will of the People that she seems to even consider abdicating. Don't know if such a thing was ever really discussed, but through Mirren's characterization you definitely understand the sentiment. Even if these weren't real, living, famous people and recent history, Mirren's performance is so good you'd get wrapped up in it anyway. I'm an American citizen and no Royal watcher on any level, yet I definitely found her Queen an interesting character.
GRADE: B
The Queen (Stephen Frears)
A docudrama cheifly recounting the week after Diana's death and how both the Royal Family and the Prime Minister handled the news, it's given weight and interest by Helen Mirren's excellent central performance. The film starts with Tony Blair (played by Michael Sheen) meeting the Queen after his landslide victory in May of 1997. He is respectful though awkward around the Crown, and the Queen and her inner circle including husband Prince Philip (James Cromwell) and Her private secretary Robin Janvrin (Roger Allam) don't seem to think much of the new Prime Minister. Then the narrative leaps to Saturday August 31st, 1997 and the car accident in Paris that took the life of Diana. Though they had separated in 1992, Charles and Diana's divorce had only been official for a year when she died. She had been stripped of the Her Royal Highness designation, but through her high-profile charity work and worldwide celebrity status she was far more popular than The Royal Family. And that is the central conflict of The Queen.
Standing on tradition and what she believes her subjects and the world stage expect from the monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II and the Family do not make a public statement in the days after the news. The entire Family was in residence at their Balmoral Estate in the Scottish countryside when Diana died, and it is decided that they will remain there rather than return to London. Diana was no longer their concern in any official way it is reasoned, and the Queen thinks it would be better for William and Harry to begin dealing with the loss of their mother in private rather than the scrutinty and hot glare of media attention back at Buckingham Palace. And besides all that, whatever affection she once had for Diana has long since been exhausted. The public, however, still has deep reservoirs of love, and during the Sunday and Monday after the news hit, hundreds of thousands of British citizens brought flowers and candles to the Palace gates in tribute. This confused the Queen, but did not change her mind. Blair on the other hand recognized the groundswell of emotion immediately from the perfect storm of Diana's celebrity and the nature of her death and urged Her Majesty to acknowledge Diana publically. She refused, and soon the wrath of the Press and a seemingly large portion of the people was aimed not at the Paparazzi who caused the accident but at the Royal Family who seemed so out of touch with the event, their feelings and the times in general.
Not to spoil recent history for anyone, but by week's end The Queen does decide to return to London in time for the public funeral and makes a live national address. The movie imagines what the emotional turnaround in The Queen specifically might have been like. Mirren, who has been an excellent actress for a long time, may finally have won her Oscar. She plays the public, the private and the political aspects of Elizabeth II perfectly. While the initial reactions to Diana's death can seem cold - and were certainly perceived as cold by many, the film delves into what's behind that Royal facade, and throughout the week how and why she changes. It's a layered and ultimately very sympathetic portrayal. The Tony Blair of the movie is largely sympathetic if a bit whiny, and Michael Sheen does well enough. Alex Jennings plays Prince Charles, and in the first half of the film he is tender and admirable. His emotional response to Diana's death and quiet outrage at his Mother and Father's reactions are very well done. But in the second half Charles is painted as an insecure and even paranoid twit. The Queen only peripherally addresses the details of Charles and Diana's marraige and the Camilla factor (Camilla is not portrayed in the movie), and while William and Harry are in the film they are not the focus and are purposefully kept in the background, as is their grief. Frears and the script aren't interested in those tabloid aspects. Allam is quite good as the Queen's secretary, who realized long before She did that the initial judgement was incorrect. Mark Bazeley gets some of the film's best lines as Blair's top advisor and speech writer Alastair Campbell, somebody who has little regard or use for the monarchy. James Cromwell is appropriately cold and old fashioned as Philip.
The plot of sitting around an isolated estate and taking a bunch of phonecalls deciding if a trip should be made to London is more engaging than it may seem on paper because of Mirren's work and Stephen Frears' tone and focus. There aren't any real suprises, other than perhaps the conversation between The Queen and The Queen Mother where Elizabeth II is so dumbstruck by the will of the People that she seems to even consider abdicating. Don't know if such a thing was ever really discussed, but through Mirren's characterization you definitely understand the sentiment. Even if these weren't real, living, famous people and recent history, Mirren's performance is so good you'd get wrapped up in it anyway. I'm an American citizen and no Royal watcher on any level, yet I definitely found her Queen an interesting character.
GRADE: B