AmateurMovieReviews.com

By Simon Woodhouse

It's a very brave move to tell a fictitious story about someone who's still alive. And doubly brave if that person is very, very high profile. Not only high profile, but also very well loved. It'd be easy for this sort of film to be nothing more than a 'we love you' bio-pic, in which the main character is turned into a virtual saint. Not only would that sort of movie make for very dull entertainment, it'd also be patronizing on the part of the film maker to expect the audience to swallow it. Faced with these sorts of challenges, it's hardly surprising that warts-and-all bio-pics about living people rarely make it onto the screen. If one does, however, and it's good, it leaves a very distinct impression with the audience.

Set around the circumstances in which Princess Diana died in 1997, The Queen tells the story of how the British Royal Family coped (or didn't) with the whole situation. Rather than diving straight into the tragic, the film begins with a brief look at the ridiculousness of royal protocol. Diana died in August, but in May of the same year Britain elected a new Prime Minister - Tony Blair (Michael Sheen). The scene is set with the Queen (Helen Mirren) having her first Queen to Prime Minister chat with Mr Blair. At this point the movie has a light-hearted feel about it, with amusing observations on daily royal life.

As the events surrounding Diana's death unfold, the mood changes. News footage from the day is inter-cut with the film's narrative, and we see the Royal Family reacting to what happened in Paris. This is done in an unbiased way. The film makers present no moral judgment on the behavior of the main characters, but rather just present their version of events and let the audience make up their own minds. There's also no overly sentimental worshiping of Diana.

Because the tragedy happened during the summer, the Royal Family (as is customary) are holidaying at Balmoral, the Queen's enormous estate in Scotland. But this is where the conflict within the film starts to come into affect. The Queen feels (quite rightly) that Diana's two young sons will cope with the whole situation much better if they're kept out of the public eye, and allowed to come to terms with what's happened surrounded only by their immediate family. But fuelled by a self-righteous tabloid press, the 'British Public' want the royals to return to London and help the 'Nation' grieve.

Depending on your views of the Monarchy, and particularly events surrounding Diana's death, the film will either draw you in or seem rather trivial. However you look at it, the performances by the main players are brilliant. As far as facial expressions and mannerisms are concerned, Helen Mirren's a dead ringer for the Queen. But because the Monarch is such a private person, we'll never know if she got the personality right. She plays the Queen in the way we imagine her to be, so from that point of view she's got it right. Prince Phillip (James Cromwell) is also portrayed very much in the way you'd imagine him to be. This formula is deviated from when it comes to Prince Charles (Alex Jennings). All the familiar mannerisms are there, but he's given a degree of emotional outpouring not afforded to any other members of the cast. But when the royals do show some emotion, it makes for the film's most powerful scenes. Chief amongst these are Prince Charles' reaction when seeing Diana's body in the hospital in Paris, and also the Queen's tearful moment whilst sat alone in the Balmoral countryside.

As the film moves on we're shown how the Queen's life is a constant balancing act between doing what she thinks is right from a traditional point of view, whilst at the same time trying to keep the fickle British Public happy. I would imagine (and hope) that in retrospect, anyone watching the film who criticized the Monarch's behavior at the time will now realize just how selfish they were being.

In the end the Queen does come out of the film as a sympathetic character. Perhaps the only member of the Royal Family who doesn't is Prince Charles. As this is a fictitious piece of work (at least from the point of view of royal life behind closed doors), it's hard to say whether the portrayal of Charles' character is accurate. If it is, then he's a slightly paranoid, non-confrontational ditherer.

Who will this film appeal to? If you're a Diana worshipper, you might not enjoy it. If you're a reader of tabloid newspapers, you'll perhaps see your unreasonable self in it. But if you can put the subject matter aside and just enjoy the performances, it's a cracking piece of work. That Helen Mirren is up for an Oscar comes as no surprise, and hers is an acting accomplishment that certainly deserves a golden statuette. There are moments of cutting wit and genuine emotion, and apart from a couple of overly sentimental scenes (especially where the Queen spots a stag at Balmoral), the film keeps its feet on the ground. It doesn't really matter if you're a fan of the British Monarchy or not, because if you like good acting, a tight script and involving story, you'll enjoy The Queen.