It is hard to believe that this August will mark 10 years since the unexpected and tragic death of Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales. It is one of those moments in history where you remember where you were when you heard the news. And while watching The Queen, the docudrama the recreates the behind the scenes drama of how the Royal Family dealt with the tragedy, brought back all of the memories of the summer of 1997.
The most amazing thing about this film is the exquisite and amazing performance of Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. She brings humanity to the role of the only monarch I have ever known and someone I consider sometime stoic but emotionally unattached when I see her appearances at Christmas. She makes Queen Elizabeth a person like you and I and not some monarch just sitting on her throne waited hand and foot. She drives a Range Rover! (albeit not wearing a seat belt).
I don't know how true it was in real life but it was fascinating to see the Queen's struggle on how to deal with it and it almost seemed as if she was being bullied into doing what was ultimately the right thing to do by the British people and Tony Blair (Michael Sheen in his second go around playing the Labour PM after TV's The Deal). I really did feel sorry for her but at the same time you wanted to yell at her to get off her high horse and do something.
We all know now that she did misjudge on how the public wanted her to address the people and I really got teary eyed as Stephen Frears used a mixture of archival and re-enactments of how the people reacted to Diana's death. I remember feeling what the people felt at the time but not necessarily about how the Queen should have reacted.
Sheen is also a revelation as Blair. He was amazing and should have been nominated for some sort of acting award. There is a scene towards the end of the Queen where after all the frenzy surrounding Diana's death and funeral had passed, they meet again (very similar to their first meeting earlier in the film when Blair first got elected) and discuss how the Queen's reputation was damaged by the way she handled things while Blair's popularity soared. Blair countered that the Queen saved her rep by addressing the people on the eve of Diana's funeral but she added that Blair may soon feel what it was like to have one's reputation damaged. This was excellent foreshadowing how Blair's rep was damaged by joining forces with President Bush to invade Iraq to find no existent weapons of mass destruction.
When the lights came up, I thought that the Queen was one of the most amazing fillms I have seen in a while. The performances were excellent and the screenplay by Peter Morgan was well written.
Come Oscar time I know that Helen Mirren is the one to beat. She embodied the Queen not only physically but emotionally as well. This is her third time playing a monarch after Queen Charlotte in the Madness of King George (her first Oscar nomination) and Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth I and you know what they say third time is the charm.
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