Starring: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen , James Cromwell, Helen McCrory, Alex Jennings, Roger Allam and Sylvia Syms
Review by: Luis Pedron of Fanclubx.com
“The Queen” Is summarized well by director Stephen Frears, “ The Institution is quite ludicrous, so it’s easy to make the Royal Family seem even more ridiculous than they are… But we focused on quite the opposite, on their human qualities in this crisis and as people denied a real life in a way. The Queen recently had her 80th birthday and its seems from a lot of articles written that many people agree that, while the institution is idiotic and inappropriate, the woman is extraordinary.”
It all happened in August 31, 1997, Tony Blair just got elected by a landslide as the newest Prime Minister ofGreat Britain when bam...…Princess Di (together with Dodi Fayed) is killed in a car crash in the streets of Paris while being chased by the paparazzi. That same day, Tony Blair appeared in public and called Diana as the “Pepole’s Princess.” What did the Royal Family do? They folded up in privacy in their own closed life of tradition,protocol and ritual – at their Balmoral – Scottish retreat. This film was about those 6 days of tug of war between the Queen and Tony Blair’s insistence that the Royal Family should be seen with the public sharing in the grief of the loss of Princess Diana … The movie is about The Queen, the Monarch symbolic of the ancient mandate and Tony Blair, very popular then – ala modern Messiah, who was conscious about political public relations. This was the battle between the two leaders and how they had to listen to each other and learn. A beautiful relationship transpired before our eyes between these two- a somewhat bitter sweet Mother and Son tandem of an Alpha Female and Alpha Male. Traditional upbringing versus Modern change.
Peter Morgan, who wrote the screenplay, notes that “what’s most daring about it ("The Queen") is that it isn’t a satire. It’s a story that dares to paint people in power as complex, conflicted human beings just like you and me. There’s really no tradition for this sort of thing outside of comedy. The Queen of England and the country’s Prime Minister – into dramatic characters facing a moment of personal and national crisis. The key would be maintaning authenticity without ever crossing the line into caricature.”
The center of this film is the beautifully delicate portrayal ofHelen Mirren. She played the Queen of England as a real person, a mother and a grandmother and yet a down to earth Queen. You will not just be at awe at the similarity of Mirren and the Queen physically but you will enjoy Mirren’s rendition of a Queen that at that time her upbringingis the only truth she knows. Hellen showed us with great precision that subtle "realization" that her character the Queen's attittude might be getting too dated and she might have to succumb to change. For the symbolic Mother to all of England (that standard bearer of Tradition) that is hard to accept. We saw this in Mirren’s portrayal- we see that the Queen is human and imperfect like us after all. Inspite of the confusion and chaos, we see Mireen’s Queen Elizabeth as a stable and confident human being.
Michael Sheen who played Tony Blair, in “The Deal” is brought back in this movie to play the same character. He wows the audience with a very straight forward but charaismatic Tony Blair circa 1997. He just got elected, he was popular and ala Messiah at that time. Michael Sheen filled his Tony Blair with youthful bravado, energy and sincerity. What’s great was Blair’s eagerness to helplooked very powerful as Sheen's rendition slowly showed us on screenthat YES, he truly understood the Queen.
It is interesting to note of the different protrayals: Sylvia Syms as Queen Mother – watch out for her perfectly timed with one liners, AlexJennings as the “guilt ridden” Prince Charles and everybody’sfavoritefarmer James Cromwell, as "the say as it is" Prince Philip.
I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed this film. This will be this year’s biggest film. For Mirren , Frears and Morgan Oscars worthy accomplishments…Advance Congrats!
Rating: 10 out of 10.
Jude Tan's Photo coverage of the Press Conference:
Fanclubx.com Video Blog: Luis Pedron and Sherwin Morada of Fanclubx.com covered the Red Carpet event of "The Queen" at the NY Film Festival 2006 Avery Fischer Hall Lincoln Center, September 29, 2006 NYC
