Movie Review: The Queen

By Anne Brodie Oct 11, 2006, 14:21 GMT

When news of the death of Princess Diana, undoubtedly the most famous woman in the world, breaks upon a shocked and disbelieving British public, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II retreats behind the walls of Balmoral Castle with her family, unable to comprehend the public response to the tragedy. For Tony Blair, the popular and newly elected Prime Minister, the people’s need for reassurance and support from their leaders is palpable.  ...more

Helen Mirren is Queen Elizabeth the Second in this riveting behind the scenes drama. It’s based on speculation of what may have happened during the week following the death of Princess Diana, a period of crisis unprecedented in the lives of the modern Royal family.

The Queen’s failure to address the country’s grieving was a blow to the monarchy. It angered and alienated her subjects. Some felt she was inching the institution of monarchy to its demise, Why, thought the people, couldn’t she be more like Diana, and express emotion.

She was not like Diana; she represented a different generation and a family steeped in tradition, dating back one thousand years. Diana was a contemporary girl – a Sloane Ranger.

But the warm, fun and sensitive Diana style seemed somehow beneath the Royals. 

It doesn’t sound like much, but this devastating story plays like Greek tragedy. It has all the elements -the mighty and their relations with the people they vow to serve, the beautiful girl, the kind of lives we could never dream of, and weighty, important problems we will thankfully never endure.

The Royals and their advisors failed to appreciate the depth of the world’s love for Diana, the wayward princess, following her death in 1997. Diana reportedly caused the Queen nothing but heartache and humiliation during her brief marriage to Prince Charles and the Queen felt there was no great love lost.

It was business as usual, the funeral to be a private affair. After all, ‘she’s not HRH anymore’.

Diana was revealed as an adulterer, (just like Charles) and played on the sympathies of the public seemingly desperate for attention and headlines – didn’t she personally tip off reporters as to her whereabouts and plans? And hang out Royal dirty laundry on TV interviews? There were suggestions that she was unbalanced.

All very unroyal. And that’s not all.

She was devastatingly beautiful and popular, and gave the Royals a gloss of warmth they’d never had. She talked to fans, held AIDS victims, cried on camera and showed she was human, not a product of The Firm (the royal family’s name for itself)

It must have been confusing for the Queen, as a woman groomed to be discreet and majestic, a tad removed, to endure Diana’s public displays. The Queens life turned upside down during the week after Diana’s passing, and she paid the price for not seeming sad enough.

Mirren takes us through the Queens emotional journey as she struggles with her perceived and real duties. It’s a marvelous arc.

Mirren is absolutely breath taking as Queen Elizabeth in appearance, carriage and well-mannered strength. Mirren even has that energetic stride! And somehow, she managed to enchant a bunch of Corgis!

Her disciplined reserve lingers long after the film is over. Also the sense that she has been shortchanged by life, being Royal.

Naturally, there will be a nomination.

Frears has outdone himself with this splendid film that makes a seemingly dry tale rip our hearts out – it is intensely moving and anyone who was moved by Diana’s death will feel it al over again.

Frears has scored hits and misses in his career but this makes up for the turkeys. This is Greek tragedy played out with newsreel footage and common memory and expressed with intelligence and searing performances.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.