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Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Stephen Frears.
Cast: Helen Mirren, James Cromwell, Michael Sheen
Description: Inspired by interviews with expert observers and royal insiders, The Queen is a portrait of a family in crisis, examining the response of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and their inner circle to the untimely death of Princess Diana. Overwhelmed by the outpouring of public grief, the Queen struggles to connect with her public and shy relies on the intervention of Prime Minister Tony Blair to polish her wavering public profile.
Country: UK. 2006. 103mins
Magestic performance: Helen Mirren in The Queen
If Helen Mirren's portrait of the Queen in Stephen Frears's film about the troubled aftermath of the death of Diana is one of her best turns, fully deserving of an Oscar nomination after her Best Actress award at Venice, the essence of this excellent film is Peter Morgan's screenplay.
How many British films have we seen that are better written than this? Not many. But then that's the basis of Frears's success. He works as much with his writers as with his actors and the result, if they are good enough, is generally a bit special.
The Queen is perhaps the most carefully balanced of his considerable oeuvre. In showing his (and Morgan's) version of what happened between the young Blair government and the royals in the days after Diana's death, the film doesn't take sides for long. It plays more than fair with both.
Who knows for certain what's true, what's half-truth or what's false? But what we do require from a film on this subject is a certain honesty, objectivity and feeling for the strange moment in time with which they are dealing. That is precisely what we get.
And it is certainly the basis of Mirren's surprisingly detailed and authentic-looking portrait of the Queen. It looks right, it sounds right and it has the whiff of truth about it.
Michael Sheen's Tony Blair is also distinctive, though a bit too puppyish at the beginning. I doubt that the Prime Minister was quite as naive when first meeting the Queen or quite as awed, since our monarch has had long practice at putting subjects at their ease.
It would have been easy to produce parody or satire, but though the film can be very funny - does the Duke really call the Queen "Cabbage"? - it also claims a seriousness that it triumphantly brings off.
Only the episode of Her Majesty and the Monarch of the Glen, whom she suddenly faces after her Land-Rover has broken down, looks forced and overly symbolic. And only the moment when she tells Mr Blair that everyone's popularity curdles and his will, too, seems like complete hindsight.
Otherwise, scarcely a foot is put wrong.The strong cast, including Helen McCrory as Cherie, James Cromwell as the Duke of Edinburgh and Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mother, could hardly be better. But, once again, it needs to be said that the writing is the thing, and a model of its kind, given a director who knows how to nourish it.
When you think of how awful this film could have been in more sentimental or blatant hands, you have to heave a sigh of relief and surrender to its interpretation of what, by any account, was an amazing piece of social and cultural history.
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What a clever film, the emotionally retarded royals, the masses whipped up to a tabloid frenzy and politicians swirling around it all. You find yourself repulsed yet emotionally engaged in it, just like when it all happened!
- Mike, N7
I think if the film was anything, it was a reaction against all the dumbed down tabloid and daytime TV( Richard and Judy) type nonsense we get hurled at us every day.
- Michael Salkeld, London.
Excellent film, I am not a royalist at all but I came away from this film feeling very passionate about the Queen, I felt for her in so many ways as she was torn. I think that at some point in our lives we have felt the same. Enjoyed this totally.
- Kelly Walker, Walsall Great Britian
Such an amazing film, I couldn't believe it was real! If you liked the David Blunkett pastiche that launched More 4 then you'll love this - it was in a similar vein, but with incredible acting from Mirren. You won't regret it if you see this film.
- Felicity, Brentford
I was nervous of this when I first heard about it, even though I'm a big
Frears fan, but my fears have proven completely unfounded - Helen Mirren is awesome in this. She manages to convincingly portray the Queen without really looking like her. In fact, a lot of the cast do this. Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair is also stands out from the crowd - she gets the neck/head movements down perfectly. The whole thing really is SO well written! I'd thoroughly recommend this one to everyone and if you happen to have an interest in the Royals already, so much the better!
- Helkat, Angel
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