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(More customer reviews)Monarchs have always faced threats to their thrones. So much so that royal history, burgeoning with fiendish conspiracies, violent plots, and gruesome assassinations, sometimes reads like a slasher novel. A few recent films have fully exploited this theme. 1998's "Elizabeth", starring the should-have-won-an-Oscar-for-this-role Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I, revolved around an assassination attempt that included the queen's lover. On a less violent theme, Judy Dench, in "Mrs. Brown", depicted Queen Victoria's "trist" with a Highlander that had all of England alight with scandal. Has a new "threatened queen" genre emerged? Apparently so. Enter a rare film about a living monarch who finds her crown imperiled in an astonishingly novel way. For once Her Majesty can watch the drama she lived reemerge in celluloid - not that she probably wants to. Though the film sports a prosaic title, "The Queen", it boldly explores uncharted territory. Here the Queen, reigning in the late twentieth century hinterland between monarchy and non-monarchy, finds herself attacked by her own people. And she, much like the great-great-grandmother she shares with her husband, was not amused.
The film opens as Queen Elizabeth II sits for a regal portrait. Her world unfolds as the royal portraiteer dotes on his imperial subject. Then, in a "we're not in Kansas anymore" flash, the newly elected Tony Blair explodes onto the screen. The now ex-Prime Minister receives voluminous coverage for a movie entited "The Queen." One memorable early scene shows Blair bowing on one knee as the Queen inquires as to his desire to serve the nation. He answers "yes." That probably didn't give too much away. Both figures, Sovereign and Prime Minister, share the spotlight and their disparate worlds collide after catastrophe strikes.
News of Princess Diana's death soars over England. Actual news footage, now almost ten years old, gets woven with dramatization. The late Princess appears often. Tony Blair issues a eulogy almost immediately. But the royal family remains eerily silent, holed up in Balmoral, their Scottish getaway. The Duke of Edinburgh, depicted here as rather heartless and crass, shows more concern for hunting stags than the furor around the dead Princess. He even takes Diana's sons hunting as a diversion. Prince Charles, divorced for a year from Diana, remains the only one moved. He flies to France to bring the body of his ex-wife back to England. As the tension rises the film depicts him as nervous, fidgety, and fearing assassination. Regardless, he cannot alter his mother's public stoicism towards the tragedy. The Queen Mother provides some comic relief. When someone shows concern over photographers intruding on their son's hunt, she says nonchalantly, "if there's a photographer he could be the first kill of the day."
Soon bundles of flowers and messages of grief crowd the gate of Buckingham Palace. But no one's home. The flag, supporting royal traditon, remains lowered in the Queen's absence. Icy silence from the palace sours the public. They begin speaking out against the monarchy. This causes a drastic change in Tony Blair. He suddenly sees the interdependence of the Queen with his own station. In phone call after phone call he pleads with her to do something. She resists even after he gives her a vital statistic: one in four people now favor abolishing the monarchy. Que the Threatened Queen leitmotif. Princess Diana now seems to upstage the royal family even in death. Elizabeth II convinces herself that "this mood" will pass.
It doesn't. Slowly the idea that her people hate her sinks in. Bowing to pressure, the family inspects the bundles of grief displayed outside of Balmoral. They soon return to London and face the dense Buckingham crowds. Here the Queen sees what her public indifference has wrought. She reads "They don't deserve you" and "They have your blood on their hands" on some of the flowers. Here begins the Queen's transformation, criss-crossing with the Prime Minister's. Diana's death irreversably changes them both. Finally, probably more in deference to her public than to the dead Princess, the Queen finally issues a public statement. Blair's staff has the original text rewritten "to make it appear like a human being wrote it." But at this point Blair, who earlier said "someone save these people from themselves", now lashes out in defense as his aide mocks the Queen's sincerity. The fuse begins to fizzle.
The film explodes a haunting paradox. Royal tradition, often seen as the bulwark of the monarchy, here threatens to undermine the institution itself. Insisting on not raising Buckingham's flag to honor Diana and treating the tragedy as "a private matter" enfuriates the public. Stuff tradition. They demand a change of protocol. Subsequently, Britain turned upside down.
Of course a film depicting living breathing people fumbling through a crisis will inevitably draw controversy. Blair gets depicted as savior here, the steam in the engine. But the real Elizabeth II issued a statement that she decided to speak out all by herself. In her own words no one persuaded her actions. Not only that, Blair and the Queen have supposedly never divulged what passed between them during that tense week. Given that, this film presents an educated guess as to the workings of the English government during that time. One wonders what Tony Blair and the Queen really think of the film. One also wonders if the royal family and the Prime Minister really watch that much television.
The performances throughout remain stunning. Helen Mirren and Micheal Sheen shine as the protagonists/antagonists. Mirren's performance dazzles so much that viewers will forget that they're watching Helen Mirren. She presents an example of undetectable acting at its finest. And though no intense action takes place the film still provides a roller coaster ride. The actors and the direction by Stephen Frears, just off of "Mrs. Henderson Presents", obviously deserve credit here.
Best of all, "The Queen" allows viewers to come to their own conclusions surrounding that controversial week in 1997. Was the public right in lashing out at the monarchy? Was the Queen sincere in her famous "grandmother" speech? Was the monarchy really threatened? The film depicts the events without mashing opinions and answers in viewers' faces. Audiences can leave with vastly differing viewpoints. And what's better than great film? Having great conversations about great film. "The Queen" will doubtless keep tongues happily waggling for some time to come.
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The Queen (2006)Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Actress, Dame Helen Mirren gives a spellbinding performance in THE QUEEN, the provocative story behind one of the most public tragedies of our time — the sudden death of Princess Diana. In the wake of Diana's death, the very private and tradition-bound Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren) finds herself in conflict with the new Prime Minister, the slickly modern and image-conscious Tony Blair. THE QUEEN, also starring Academy Award® Nominee James Cromwell (Best Supporting Actor, BABE, 1995), takes you inside the private chambers of the Royal Family and the British government for a captivating look at a vulnerable human being in her darkest hour, as a nation grieving for its People's Princess waits to see what its leaders will do. Suspenseful, heartfelt and riveting, it's a fascinating story you won’t soon forget.
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