The Queen
Synopsis: After Princess Diana’s shocking death, Queen
Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) and Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) engage in
intimate talks as Britain demands the princess be memorialized in a
manner beyond standard protocol. This Oscar-nominated drama for Best
Picture goes behind the scenes as the queen and prime minister try to
manage Diana’s death on a personal level while also dealing with a
public calling for royal treatment for their beloved Diana.
Review: I muted my expectations, but this is one of the best films
I’ve seen of 2006. Mirren’s performance is inspired, especially
considering she didn’t have much to take from. It amazed me that in
an interview Mirren was asked if she had any interaction w/the Queen
about her performance and she said, yes, I’ve met her for all of
about 20 seconds! While she was able to use footage of the Queen’s
public appearances to get the walk, the talk and the wave right,
99.9% of this movie takes place in private and the screenwriter,
director and Helen had to come up with what they thought the Queen
might say or do based on, well, nothing!
The result is utterly amazing. This tidy little film wraps up in 97
minutes but at the end of it, you’ll empathize with Queen Elizabeth
2, you’ll understand her as a woman imbued with an overwhelming sense
of duty and formality (she became queen in her teens), yet at the
same time a woman of wit, humor and intelligence. In these 97
minutes, you see a full portrait of a woman that the public really
doesn’t know much about. Her confidence is shaken as the news of
Princess Diana’s death pulls the rug out from under her, the people
began to turn against her and the institution of the monarchy itself,
and we see her struggle to understand changing times and to remain
historically relevant in an England that showed it was modernizing in
its election of Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.
There are so many emotions here – you’ll be tearing up in certain
parts and laughing in others. The scene where the Queen and the rest
of the royal family (including Diana’s two sons – William and Harry)
make their first appearance outside the gates of Buckingham Palace
and acknowledge all the flowers and gifts that have piled up outside
the gates is a complete tearjerker. So many of the notes that have
been left are disparaging of the Queen and the monarchy, right in her
face, you wonder how she can stand this essential public humiliation
with that quintessentially British “stiff upper lip,” a woman who
sincerely believes that it is her God-given right to be ruler of
England? And if you weren’t tearing up at that point, the immediate
scene with the little girl will cue up the waterworks!
What finally makes this performance so timeless though is that Mirren
leaves some ambiguity into making the choices she did, leaving just
enough mystery for you to leave the theater with. Did she make the
decision she did b/c she really thought it was the right thing to do?
Or did she do so to save the institution of the monarchy? Ah,
decisions decisions.
The editing of real footage of Princess Diana was superb. In lesser
hands it could appear exploitative, but here it was seamless – the
immortal pictures of those mounting bouquets of flowers blocking the
entrance to Buckingham Palace, the star-studded funeral, the
endearing footage of the “people’s princess.” You really get a sense
of, my god, how could the dithering Charles and the Queen, isolated
from her people, compete with this woman, internationally beloved for
her good deeds, beauty and love of being out amongst the people? The
deck is completely stacked! There are some great scenes of the Queen
completely shocked by the international reaction to Diana’s death and
Charles essentially saying now you know what I’ve had to deal with
all these years. There are some other funny scenes when the Queen
Mother reacts to having celebrities at the funeral: “Elton John!?”
In the very first 10 seconds of the film, Helen Mirren convinces you
that she is Queen Elizabeth 2 and she convinces you by the end of the
film that she is as human as anyone else. The dynamic between her and
Tony Blair is fascinating as I’ve always wondered how the Queen, the
symbolic head of the country (a role passed on by history and per
tradition, whose power is from God), and the prime minister,
popularly elected by the people and whose power comes from England’s
constitution, interact.
Stephen Frears is the same director who did Dirty, Pretty Things, a
movie I really enjoyed w/one of my fave actresses, Audrey Tautou. His
dialogue on the upper/middle class seems to extend here – the Queen
is as upper class as you can get and Tony Blair is very much middle
class. The scene where you see Tony and his wife go to Buckingham
Palace for the first time practicing the bows, the handshakes, the
curtsies and all the other arcana before meeting with the Queen are
funny and sincere and highlight the differences of the two worlds.
The royal family is isolated from the people; Tony Blair is the voice
of the people. Yet one world doesn’t clearly have an upper hand over
the other. As the film posits, there is clearly self-interest for
both to co-exist.
The cinematography is beautiful, from the amazing gardens and wild
landscapes of Balmoral to the tastefully formal, regally decorated
rooms of Buckingham Palace.
And, if you couldn’t tell already, it is immensely entertaining.
All hail to the Queen.
Final Rating: 4.5 stars!
Audrey
