The Queen
by Stephen Frears
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alex Jennings, Helen Mirren, James Cromwell, Michael Sheen, Sylvia SymsDirector: Stephen Frears
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 2
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Audio Description), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, PAL, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-24
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Product features:
- Queen Movie
Movie Reviews of The Queen
Movie Review: Fascinating Portrait of Royals and Progressives
Summary: 5 Stars
The most surprising thing about this film is that it doesn't really take sides. Instead it examines the personal responses & political decisions made by Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair during the week following Lady Diana's tragic death. Though both Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen give outstanding Oscar-worthy performances the real star/hero of this film is, as you might expect, Lady Di.
Most people already know that virtually everyone in the world adored Lady Di while she was alive and that many experienced her death almost as a personal loss; and that many people continue to view her as one of the late twentieth-century's most intriguing and personable icons. Frears certainly knows the iconic value of Lady Di and just how she was and continues to be perceived by not only the British people but the people of the world. To the people of the world she is a person who embodied glamor and grace in a way no public figure had done before or has done since, and on top of that she bravely defied the life-denying royal protocols and out-of-date traditions that were no longer responsive to the people's needs and merely put a great chasm between the royals and real life. While the rest of the royals went about their merry way blissfully out-of-touch with the way they were being perceived by the modern world and blissfully dysfunctional as human beings, Lady Di was the one person who remained in touch with her instincts and emotions and in touch with the people. And it was these displays of genuine human qualities and emotion in interview after interview that gave people something to connect with and admire. Lady Di's attempt to break free from the old royal ways represented to the English people their own desire to break free from the stultifying confines of tradition. One could say that Lady Di was a modern in a house full of ancients (who still believed it was ok for Prince Charles to have a mistress; and to hunt stags and foxes just for fun). Even though Lady Di had no real political power she had tremendous symbolic power and when she died Tony Blair, because he knew what she represented to the people, immediately appreciated how deeply her loss would be felt. Tony Blair also immediately appreciated that it was important not to try and turn Lady Di's death into an opportunity for personal political gain even though the opportunity was there. But without even trying, or simply by trying to do the decent thing and not the most advantageous thing politically Blair came across as a decent guy and a guy that acted and thought like Lady Di herself who always put people before politics.
To the royals, however, Lady Di was just a thorn in their side and her death only aggravated an already deep wound. To them her open defiance of royal ways was an assault on English tradition and decorum and her affiliations with celebrities and playboys as well as her open criticism of Charles and the rest of the royals in the press just seemed undiginified and vulgar. To the people of course Lady Di's dalliances seemed like much deserved breaths of fresh air after years of royal confinement. Though Lady Di never espoused any political views of her own, her highly publicized struggles with the royal family forever wounded the publics image of all things royal. Still, despite these well publicized differences, the public expected the Queen to be magnanimous and to eulogize Lady Di in some public way. The British and world press certainly did not expect the Queen to be petty but that is exactly how the British and world press perceived the Queen's week-long silence that followed that fatal car crash in Paris.
In many ways Lady Di remains the star of this picture. Every time we see another interview or any video footage of her we are in awe of how powerful her image was and remains. The Queen, on the other hand, is not loved and no one knows this more than she. But she is not portrayed here as simply the much maligned princess-nemesis that you might expect. This film takes an equivocal approach and allows us an insiders glimpse in to how the story played out in both the royal and Blair households that week in 1997 and the film also allows us to understand exactly why each person responded the way they did. By allowing us an especially close behind-the-scenes look at the inner-workings of two very distinct political minds with very different social & political backgrounds and points of view we find, to our surprise, that Tony Blair and the Queen, as far apart as they are on the political spectrum, do indeed have something in common: a respect for decency and a sense of themselves as selfless public servants; and even though they show that decency and play their roles in radically different ways both ultimately come off as essentially decent people and by films end we even feel that these two may get on rather nicely. And so the real revelation here is that the Queen mum is actually a human being who just isn't that good at relating with her subjects and Blair's the guy who is credited with providing the Queen with some much needed emotional counsel & public relations advice. What we see is a Queen that does hold an obvious grudge against Diana but we also see that she needs her subjects emotional support just as much as they need her public display of emotion. This is trying for her because she is not used to showing emotion publicly, in fact she's been trained all of her life not to show emotion and Blair is sensitive to this generational difference in attitude toward what is and is not appropriate. Its only Tony Blair himself who sees what the Queen is really like and its only Blair who can finesse the Queen into reversing her earlier miscalculation and to make a public statement in recognition of Lady Di without making her feel publicly or politically humiliated. Blair is sensitive to public opinion but he also realizes that the press and the public are not always spot-on when it comes to assessing the lives of public figures, especially their inner lives. His public sympathies are with the very popular Lady Di but privately his sympathy is, surprisingly, with the Queen.
As the Queen, Mirren gives a touching performance, and one full of the kinds of subtleties and nuances that only the worlds greatest actresses are capable of delivering. Her skill is not just in making the Queen likable but also in allowing us to comprehend this profoundly conservative woman. Mirren gives her humor and heart, and the scene where we see the Queen suddenly and unexpectedly overcome by the grief that she actually feels is as surprising to us as it is to her.
What's so graceful about this film is its ability to use the Lady Di tragedy as a way to heal both personal and political wounds, and to find the higher common ground that unites people of all political persuasions. The films idealism is a worthy tribute to the legacy of Lady Di. The Queen is an easy film to like and one of the rare films that actually makes you feel good.
The press takes a good slapping on the wrist and they deserve it but they are not the only ones villainized. The real bad guys here are the ones who pay closer attention to politics than to people and thus live in their heads instead of their hearts. In the royal household the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, comes off as not just emotionally cold but rather indifferent to the Lady Di tragedy and to human feeling in general; his own emotional life, stunted as it is, provides him with no way of comprehending the depth of public feeling that Lady Di inspires. The only emotion that he seems capable of expressing is resentment; he has no real feeling for the people, and the people none for him. He represents the royals at their worst as he lives in a cocoon of privilege completely cut-off from real world events. In comparison, Prince Charles actually comes across as well-intentioned and capable of compassion and sympathy; although he is portrayed as painfully awkward and hopelessly ineffectual as a public figure, he is also potrayed as a good father, and a caring ex-husband. Although funny and witty and in many ways very likable because always ready with a clever quip or retort Blair's key analyst/speechwriter, Alastair Campbell, does not come off much better than the Queens' husband in the final analysis as he is incapable of seeing the Lady Di tragedy as anything but a political opportunity. Though its Mirren as the Queen and Michael Sheen as Blair that will win Oscar nods (and deservedly so) this subtle portrait of a scheming progressive also deserves notice.
Summary of The Queen
Winner of the Academy AwardŽ for Best Actress, Dame Helen Mirren gives a spellbinding performance in THE QUEEN, the provocative story behind one of the most public tragedies of our time ? the sudden death of Princess Diana. In the wake of Diana's death, the very private and tradition-bound Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren) finds herself in conflict with the new Prime Minister, the slickly modern and image-conscious Tony Blair. THE QUEEN, also starring Academy AwardŽ Nominee James Cromwell (Best Supporting Actor, BABE, 1995), takes you inside the private chambers of the Royal Family and the British government for a captivating look at a vulnerable human being in her darkest hour, as a nation grieving for its People's Princess waits to see what its leaders will do. Suspenseful, heartfelt and riveting, it's a fascinating story you won?t soon forget.Similar DVD Movies
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