The Queen
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Movie Reviews of The Queen
Movie Review: All Rise For... Helen Mirren!
Summary: 5 Stars
So what's this then? A biography of HRH?
Good heavens, no. She's been on the throne now for more than half a century. Where would a filmmaker begin? Besides, she looks like she's still got years of service ahead of her. Where would a fimmaker end? And with the greatest respect to Her Majesty, I really don't think a movie about her life would have quite the same draw. No, this interesting study, written by Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Frears, centres on the turbulent times - certainly for the monarchy - following on from the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Ah, yes. I remember those days well
Don't we all? I'll never forget that morning on August 31st 1997. I'd been at a house party with some friends and after a totally fun night of dancing to anything from Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" to Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman", we all staggered out into the dawn light to hear people chatting nervously, almost fearfully, about something. Princess Diana has been seriously hurt in an accident in Paris, someone eventually said out loud in shocked disbelief. Stunned, we all got into the car and immediately turned on the radio to hear that it was true. By the time I finally made it home and turned on the TV, her death had already been confirmed.
So, a documentary then?
Well, not quite, though this fantastic movie is almost documentary-like, with its well placed news clips, presented and voiced by broadcasters we all know and respect here in the UK. In actuality, it is part recent history and part clever speculation. Its main focus seems to be the gross miscalculation made by the royal family immediately following the tragedy. They seemed very remote, very aloof and while we see actual footage of world leaders like Presidents Clinton and Mandela were making public statements of grief and shock in this movie, Queen Elizabeth II and her family remain resolutely silent.
As you mentioned earlier, it wasn't a good time for the monarchy.
No, it definitely wasn't. The monarchy's popularity in Britain plummeted to its lowest levels in centuries in the autumn of 1997, while conversely, Tony Blair, the freshly minted prime minister came out of it all smelling of roses. By 2002 though, when the Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee, it seems her subjects had forgiven her. Maybe we saw the big picture and were not going to allow one mistake, no matter how big, to obliterate 50 years of outstanding and selfless service. Or maybe, in this tabloid media driven age of fickle celebrity, we've just developed much shorter memories. Whatever.
So who's in it then?
Ah, yes, of course. Well, Helen Mirren gives the performance of a lifetime as The Queen and after years of admiring her work, I'm so happy to see her finally get her due: Golden Globe, Bafta and Oscar. She graciously said it was The Queen that people were honouring but we all know it was her performance as The Queen and her incredible talent in general. Martin Sheen carries off the role of Tony Blair pretty amazingly as well, even though the resemblance is fleeting at best. James Cromwell - remember him from "Six Feet Under"? - does a remarkable impression of Prince Philip and don't forget to check out Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair. She doesn't seem to be a huge fan of the Royal family, does she? (Of course, as I mentioned earlier, most of this movie is pure speculation).
But we were all there at the time. It was almost ten years ago. What's the huge attraction now?
I think that is what makes this movie so fascinating. For me anyway. It's about a time in recent history that I lived through and still remember quite clearly. I didn't go as far as some did, with all their weeping, wailing and shaking outside Kensington Palace but I was very sad about Diana's death.
But most crucial of all, I think, this movie is sympathetic towards the Queen and shows us a (possible) side to her that we never get to see. Helen Mirren plays her with great warmth and depth and we see, probably for the first time, just why she may have reacted in the way that she did back then. The entire movie suggests a side to the story that we weren't privy to and probably never will be and I think that's why the movie went down a storm here in the UK. It also reminds us how we all lost the plot for a minute back there in September of 1997. That's the fun part - being able to see something and shout: Oh, I remember that! What were we thinking? The good old days.
As for why Americans have taken to it, I can only speculate. Royalty has always been something of a fascination for our cousins and remember that this tale of The Queen is circled by or entangled with somewhat, the story of Diana, a woman who still enthrals on both sides of the Atlantic even now, 10 years after her untimely death. I saw a 2-hour special about Princess Diana's life on the Biography channel recently. Even though I was relatively familiar with the story, I was still gripped from beginning to end. A movie about her life... now THAT I would pay good money to see!
Movie Review: God save "The Queen"
Summary: 5 Stars
Helen Mirren won the Academy Award for her portrayal of HRH Elizabeth II with a performance that knocked me out. Her small nuances and gestures and even her walk easily evoke Her Majesty - the one in my public mind. As the film progresses we're privy to behind locked door scenes that are only the speculation of Director Stephen Frears and Alan Morgan - but they fit in perfectly with what we think we know about the house of Mountbatten-Windsor. In the emotional final act, Dame Mirren's performance becomes even more remarkable as she gives us a brief glimpse into the humanity of the woman never seen by the public eye.
Michael Sheen gives an equally impressive supporting performance as Prime Minister Tony Blair, who as the film opens has just been elected from the Labor Party in a landslide after eighteen years of Conservatives. (Blair's predecessors John Major and Margaret Thatcher aren't mentioned.) The Queen and her advisors are in preparation for Mr. Blair's promise to shake things up when tragedy strikes.
For those too young to remember the effect that the unexpected death of Lady Diana had on the world - "Princess Di" married Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and future King of England, while she was a teenager and Charles was in his thirties. The Prince has a reputation for being very properly British - stiff upper lip and all that - and somewhat detached from the "real world" while Diana hung out with rock stars and made conspicuous public appearances that made her maybe the world's most famous celebrity. They were married fifteen years, had two sons, and divorced a year before her death in Paris - her car speeding in a narrow tunnel, trying to flee paparazzi. For the twelve-year old reader: if Anna Nicole had intelligence, charm, character, and had devoted years of her life to world-wide charitable causes like the fight against AIDS and land-mines, after being married to the future King of England, well... you get the idea.
Anyway - back to the film. Diana and Charles have been divorced for a year, and when she is killed she is no longer "Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales". In addition, the media attention around Diana and her split from Charles has not been flattering to the Royals. When Elizabeth is told that Diana's family, the Spencers, want to have a private funeral, the Queen is satisfied with that. She doesn't want a big "to-do" and, after all, it's what her family wanted. A recurrent theme in the film is how badly the Queen and her advisors initially underestimate the national and world-wide outpouring of grief over Diana's tragic death.
The royal family is on holiday at the massive estate at Balmoral. While the Queen is away the flag doesn't fly over Buckingham Palace. But mourners are lining up outside the Palace and leaving flowers and keep-sakes outside the royal gates and Prime Minister Blair correctly senses that the British people think that the Queen and her family should return to London and fly the flag at half-mast.
Elizabeth worked for the British Military transportation during World War II and when her father died and she became Queen in 1952, her first Prime Minister was Winston Churchill. Her Majesty is "old school", and she knows protocol. Her subjects are demanding a degree of Royal respect and honor which she knows that she would not receive if she were to die herself. She wants to shield her grandsons from the brouhaha in London - it's bad enough that they've lost their mother, isn't it?
James Cromwell gives a great performance as the Queen's husband, Prince Phillip, and Sylvia Syms gets many of the best lines as the Queen Mother. Alex Jennings looks a little bit like Prince Charles - from behind - and he gives a good performance that shows that Charles had strong feelings for Diana a year after their divorce.
The best scenes take place between the Prime Minister and Her Majesty - some of them phone conversations. A subtle, but plainly growing, degree of respect develops between the two of them as they both realize that the other is behaving in a way that is perfectly understandable. Mr. Blair realizes that the Queen is a product of her upbringing and experience and that she has always behaved in the best interests of her country, while Elizabeth realizes that Mr. Blair is being both respectful of the crown while having his finger on the pulse of her subjects.
Doesn't everyone wonder what the real Queen (and others behind the gates of Buckingham Palace) think of this film? I think they wouldn't be disappointed. The Mrs. and I give two thumbs up.
Movie Review: To Adapt Is To Survive: The British Monarchy in Crisis.
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Queen" chronicles the behind-the-scenes drama of the British royal family in the week following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on the 30th of August 1997. Princess Diana' death plunges the monarchy into an unexpected crisis when public grief overflows into the streets and parks. Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) considers Diana's death a private affair and can't fathom her people's need for a public funeral or acknowledgement from the royal family: "The less attention one draws to it, the better." Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), elected head of the government by a landslide just a few months before, understands what the public expects and the dangers of the monarchy not fulfilling that role: "Will someone please save these people from themselves?" So he advises, pleads, and cajoles the Queen into making a public tribute in the face of growing anti-monarchist sentiment.
Helen Mirren won an Oscar for her portrayal of this monarch who keeps her feelings so much to herself that people tend to doubt that she has feelings. I'm not convinced myself, but "The Queen" offers an interesting perspective on Her Majesty's stoicism: Duty precludes her from ever being partial. She can't even vote. And she despised Princess Diana -with good reason- so was probably not anguished by her death. In presenting Diana's death from the perspective of the royal family, secluded at Balmoral Castle, the film tries to make the Queen a sympathetic figure, a bastion of traditional culture suddenly confronted with a celebrity culture that she does not understand. This does little in my mind to alleviate the fact that Queen Elizabeth II utterly lacks leadership skills, charisma, and is so uncomprehending of her own culture that she erodes the usefulness of the monarchy. But I have to admit that she -or her verisimilitude- is fascinating to watch.
We also see the perspective of Tony Blair and his staff at 10 Downing Street on Princess Diana's death and that of the British public, who are represented by real television news footage. In fact, everyone is experiencing the crisis through television. The royals, the government, and the public spend a lot of time watching each other on TV. It's difficult to know where director Stephen Frears and writer Peter Morgan's sympathies lie, if anywhere. The events of "The Queen" resulted from the clash of three dysfunctional parties, though the film does not explicitly say so: mentally ill Princess Diana, emotionally stunted and out-of-touch Queen Elizabeth II, and the British people whose initial expressions of affection and grief quickly degenerated into an obscene display of self-pity.
If you're wondering how screenwriter Stephen Marber knew what happened behind closed doors in the days following Princess Diana's death, he drew on his own sources inside 10 Downing Street and those of historian Robert Lacey inside Balmoral Castle. Mr. Lacey wrote the book "Majesty" about the reign of Elizabeth II and served as consultant on this film. Beside the obvious inability to know the precise content of private conversations, some liberties have been taken with the story, including the subplot involving the stag at Balmoral, which serves as metaphor. And a wonderful metaphor it is. "The Queen" is a sublimely insightful film that possesses more gravity than any of its dramatis personae would seem to merit alone.
The DVD (Miramax 2007): There are a making-of documentary and 2 audio commentaries. "The Making of The Queen" (18 min) has 3 parts: the cast, director Stephen Frears, and other crew discuss the challenges of portraying real people; the environments of the film as created through production and costume designs; and crew members talk about their experiences of the week that Princess Diana died. The first audio commentary by director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Peter Morgan is sporadic and addresses a miscellany of topics without being informative. Skip it. The second audio commentary by historian Robert Lacey is excellent and very worthwhile if you enjoyed the film. Lacey discusses the film's themes of traditional vs celebrity culture and the perspective of the royals vs the public. He explains the context of events and the meaning of protocols. He tells us what is and is not based on fact as far as it could be ascertained, takes us through the actions of the characters, and explains the politics for us foreigners. Subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish. Dubbing available in Spanish.
Movie Review: The Queen
Summary: 5 Stars
Shortly after the election of Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) to the position of Prime Minister, Princess Diana was killed in a horrific car accident. As the British public clamors for an open memorial for the woman Prime Minister Blair called "The People's Princess", Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) chooses to keep everything private, taking her grandsons to Balmoral Castle to help them in their time of loss. Without any word from the royal family though, the British people become angered, and are soon close to calling for the dissolution of the crown.
Princess Diana's death was a very tragic event that led to a sense of lost amongst people the world over. It's no secret that Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Di did not get along, especially when considering the fact that Diana was not quiet about her former husband's, Prince Charles, infidelity among other things and was dating a Muslim. Shortly before Diana's death, Tony Blair was elected to the position of Prime Minister, and while things looked somewhat smooth, no one could have expected the hardships he was about to go through in dealing with what became something of a national crisis. Depicting a situation like this isn't an easy task for film, so how did Stephen Frears do with his movie The Queen?
Amazingly! With a script written by Peter Morgan (Frost/ Nixon, The Damned United, The Last King of Scotland, etc.) which is actually the second in something of a series starring Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, The Queen is not only a look at the inner workings of the British government in a time of crisis, but is also a look at the differences between the branches of government and the way they think. Throughout the movie you see that the Queen and the royal family are very old school, choosing to hide emotion and mourn in private rather than display their feelings to the world. They also don't believe that Diana should be mourned on a public level since she no longer was a member of the royal family. Then you have Tony Blair who wants to move the government in a new direction, and can't believe the way the royal family is handling this: with a lack of warmth in their proceedings. You see Blair trying his best to do what he can for a family that, from the outside, doesn't appear to want to do anything for itself. Working off interviews from unnamed sources within the queen's employ and staffers who worked with Blair, Morgan crafts a script that catches the nuances of the inner workings of the government in this type of situation.
To really bring this out, you really need great acting, and in Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II you completely see the struggles, differences, and even similarities between these two figures. As Queen Elizabeth II, Helen Mirren shows you a woman who is strong and solid in her ways but also worries about her position in the history of the monarchy. Mirren's performance is truly the tour de force of the film, but one also can't count out Michael Sheen's portrayal of Prime Minister Blair. You see Blair as a man trying to lead Britain into a new era, and sees things differently with the monarchy, but still holds the monarchy in high regard. As the people start to turn on the monarchy you see him as a man who is, not trying to tell the monarchy what to do, but trying to help the monarchy through a crisis into a better position in the court of public opinion, and Sheen masterfully embodies this.
Never does the movie take a position as to whether the monarchy is good or bad, outdated or what Britain needs at this time. It doesn't examine Princess Diana's life, or who was at fault in her death. A masterful feat for the director, the movie really just examines the monarchy and the British government in this day and age through this crisis. On top of that, the eye for attention to detail is amazing. You see the difference between the settings where the monarch lives and the lower levels of the government reside, and the images of the country side at Balmoral Castle, and the views of the castle interior are breathtaking. Accomplishing this kind of movie in this day and age is a great achievement.
If you're a fan of films dealing with history, or the inner workings of government, particularly the British government I highly recommend this film. With superb acting, directing, and writing this film shows what any film dealing in this nature of material should really be like.
5/5
Movie Review: An English history masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure what to say about Stephen Frears' Oscar-winning film, THE QUEEN, that had not already been seen. The movie has played for months on end in San Francisco art theaters, but never once reached my local suburb, so it probably also never played in small towns across America. That was my key, along with friends wanting MY personal take on this Best Picture Oscar nominee and Actress winner when it FINALLY got onto DVD.
For starters, Helen Mirren gives one of the great performances of all time and richly deserved the thousand awards she has gotten as Queen Elizabeth II. But she could not do much if Peter Morgan's award-winning script were not as brilliant as it is; the same goes for Frears' magnificent direction. The movie got Oscar-nominated in several major categories, including Picture and Direction and Actress; I would have added Production Design. On a mediocre audio commentary, Frears and Morgan curiously ridicule and bad-mouth their own movie in terms of jokes and wrong locations because of a low-budget. Actually, this is a very handsome-looking film in terms of sets and costumes. So when you play this DVD, do ignore the Morgan and Frears audio commentary, and maybe try a second one with a British historian and royal family author. Or just listen to the movie "cold".
What we have here is a fascinating and insightful drama about the week following Princess Diana's car crash death in 1997 Paris, as filtered through the perspective of the Royal family who are at Balmoral, their hideaway in the Scottish highlands (rich location filming). Morgan's screenplay gives us a day-by-day portrait of the conflict between the Monarchs and the Blairs, Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair (a marvelous Michael Sheen), fresh young blood versus a centuries-old conservative monarchy. We observe, like flies on a wall, how the death of Diana is viewed by both the Queen and Tony. The Blairs side with the British public, who adored Diana. They want the flag over Buckingham Palace flown at half-mast, even though the Royal family is in Scotland for the week, and they want a public statement from the Queen. As more and more flowers pile up outside Buckingham Palace, where people are holding a vigil all week and impatiently waiting for their queen to show herself, Elizabeth reads the various newspapers criticizing her. She did not like Diana that much and views this as very much a private funeral. THE QUEEN is rich in character more than plot.
Eventually, the public gets its wish for a flag at half-mast, a public TV statement by a queen who barely feels and coldly recites the words she is saying, and a walk among the thousands of people behind police barriers. The loveliest scene, or at least my favorite, has a little girl giving the Queen a bouquet of flowers. "For me?" she inquires softly. "Thank you," she says with true sympathy. Mirren is just towering and flawless in her Oscar-winning role, reason enough to watch THE QUEEN. But Sheen, and veteran Sylvia Sims and Oscar-nominee James Cromwell, are also excellent as the Queen Mother and Prince Philip, respectively. The movie should also have gotten a Makeup Oscar nomination since Mirren is beautiful and sexy in real life and looks nothing like Elizabeth. But with the right white wig and reading glasses and a soft accent, she IS the Queen. (You might want to watch the film with the English subtitle captions turned on to catch all of the dialogue.)
The DVD for THE QUEEN is letterboxed at 1.85, middle-range wide-screen. (There is also a pan/scan full screen version.) Like I said earlier, it has two audio commentaries, and the one I played with the director and writer does the movie a real disservice by constantly pointing out all its flaws. But there is also a very good and informative 20 minute filmmaking documentary and chat with the cast. It got a PG-13 rating for "brief language" which bypassed me; I'd give the film a "PG" instead for all ages. This could be a thrilling English history lesson supplement in high schools and colleges. Happy viewing!