Movie Review 2: The Queen

By Colin MacLean Oct 18, 2006, 9:03 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

As Steven Frears’ remarkable film 'The Queen' begins, Elizabeth II stares at us with veiled eyes set in a regal, impassive face. If there is emotion, it is superbly hidden by Helen Mirren’s inscrutable features under that cast iron helmet of immobile hair.

At first one is struck by the remarkable resemblance Mirren has to the Queen. But it doesn’t take this able actor long to locate the heart behind the mask. It is not an easy job. Frears (‘My Beautiful Laundrette’, ‘Dirty Pretty Things’) is not about to allow his drama-documentary (or his performers) to slide into sentimentality.

Mirren must find her performance in a narrow emotional line dictated by fifteen hundred years of British royal tradition and the vow of service taken sixty years ago by a girl who was never meant to be queen.

The film makes it clear that this is a very private person thrust into the position as the most famous woman in the world. Mirren nails it with complete conviction, allowing the turmoil that must be boiling under the royal surface to be revealed only in the subtlest of ways.

Her performance will surely result in an Oscar nomination.

The film takes place in 1997. Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) has just been elected in a landslide and has nervously come to Buckingham Palace to have his new government recognized by Elizabeth, a frosty regal presence.

Four months later, Princess Di dies in that famous Paris car crash. Diana committed the ultimate sin – she turned her back on her royal obligations to become a public personality. An icily detached Elizabeth sees no imperative to recognize Di’s death. So she and her family, entrenched on holiday in Balmoral Castle in Scotland, resolve to ignore the whole thing. After all, Diana had been thrown out of the club and was no longer a royal.

Elizabeth did not take into account the depth of public love for the sparkling princess. Diana’s death made her a martyr and the target of an uncaring crown. There was a tremendous outpouring of public grief. Unknowingly, Blair himself fanned the flames by dubbing her, “the people’s princess.”

The film uses skillfully edited newsreel footage to make Diana a fellow player in the drama.

The rest of the film has Tony Blair, who really has his finger on the pulse of the British people, trying to persuade the stubborn, aloof Elizabeth that the future of the monarchy depends on her bending to the wishes of her people. Blair grinds out to his wife, “They screwed up her life; let’s hope they don’t screw up her death.”

With his nimble and smart screenplay, Peter Morgan adeptly balances the pressures between the populist Blair and the patrician Elizabeth. As Blair comes to respect the Queen’s sense of continuity and tradition – she, with his help, begins to understand that she has misread the mood of her own people. Morgan avoids having his characters make the Big Statement leaving his audience to make up its own mind based on what they see.

The subtle but emotionally resonant (and deeply private) change in attitude of the Queen is a dramatically powerful experience. It’s not that she has changed – it is that she pragmatically accepts the will of her people.

James Cromwell may be an American actor but he certainly inhabits Prince Phillip – disengaged and haughty, a major twit but a loving husband and father. Alex Jennings manages the hangdog aspect of Charles while showing a man, haplessly caught between two worlds. In his own way, Sheen disappears into Blair as effectively as Mirren into the Queen. The rest of the cast is exemplary.

There is no way of telling what is real and what is dramatic license but the entire film combines what we know with what we suspect to produce a coherent and believable whole.

'The Queen' is a penetrating character study produced with a fly-on-the-wall reality to create a hugely enjoyable film.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.