The Queen

Posted by Clayton L. White (stinky_booties@hotmail.com) on April 24, 2007

The first thing that struck me about Stephen Frears’ The Queen is that the film is an incredibly intimate portrait of two remarkably courageous women. On the one hand, we have Queen Elizabeth II, on the other, Diana, Princess of Wales. These women are important, famous, and powerful individuals, but the film treats them both as human beings as common as you and me. This is not the story of one woman’s stubbornness as a result of centuries of tradition, but instead a battle of wills between two people who had once been related through marriage. The only problem is that one of these women continues the battle, even when the other is being prepared to go to her grave.

By now, of course, you know that the Queen is played by Helen Mirren. There isn’t a whole lot left to be said about this performance except that it is every bit as good as it’s cracked up to be. It is fully deserving of any and all praise that it received, including the slew of awards cast upon it, particularly the Academy Award (even though I still maintain that Penelope Cruz’s work in Volver is equally as good in its own way). Mirren’s career is a legendary one (I first fell in love with her in John Boorman’s Excalibur), spanning television, cinema, and the stage. Even though she has been involved in a few clunkers (Caligula anyone?), she has retained her elegance, wit, and devotion, and this role may be her crowning achievement (no pun intended). She does something that is almost remarkable in its subtlety, way beyond the process of mimicry. We not only view her Queen as a woman of authority and prominence, but we see her as a normal individual, and we sympathize. There’s something oddly compelling about watching the Queen of England driving a Range Rover through a creek, but it’s Mirren that makes it stick in the mind. Right there with her is Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair. Sheen (no, he’s not another one of Martin’s kids), has been a prominent figure on the stages of Britain for a long while now, but his film output has been minor and erratic. It’s here that he announces his presence. He is quietly effective in the role, never going over the top or calling attention to himself, but instead taking things below the surface. Sheen builds his performance on nuance instead of theatricality. Mirren may be pressing the accelerator, but it’s Sheen who steers the film all the way home. It is tremendously sad and pathetic that the Academy didn’t pick up on it and nominate Sheen for an award that he fully deserved.

The film opens on May 2, 1997. Blair has just been elected Prime Minister in a landslide victory, striking a major blow in favor of the Labour party, who hadn’t had a Prime Minister in office in 18 years. We see Blair meeting with the Queen to accept his newly elected position. They are both increasingly reticent, each afraid to let their guard down. It is an awkward meeting, filled with regulations and tradition. Flash forward to August 30 of the same year, the night of the car crash that would eventually kill Diana. As we all know, the public response was incredibly overwhelming. The Queen refuses to react publicly. Diana was no longer a member of the Royal family, and hadn’t been for a year. The Queen sees her death as a “private matter,” and she repeatedly uses her grandchildren as an excuse not to get involved. She is concerned for their feelings, and doesn’t see a public statement as a way to ease their pain. What she doesn’t take into consideration is the fact that refusing to comment on the tragedy only makes the pain felt by the public even worse. Blair, who made a statement immediately, isn’t as naive, and he does everything he can to make the Queen see the light. We all know how this plays out, we know the ending. The main concern here, however, is the process of getting there. It’s a long, hard road, but it’s more engrossing and surprising than you might imagine it to be.

Aside from Mirren and Sheen, there are many other notable performances here as well. James Cromwell as Prince Philip and Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mother are especially fine, but there is some nice support from Alex Jennings as Prince Charles, and Helen McCrarie as Blair’s wife Cherie. It may seem as if this film is just a feeding frenzy for the actors, but the direction deserves mention. Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity) may not have much style, but he should be commended for not only the great work he gets from his cast, but for treating such a fragile situation with the utmost respect. He never takes the easy way out by poking fun at the Royal family; instead he treats them as normal people that we easily identify with, even though we may even though we may not always agree with them. Peter Morgan’s screenplay provides the material with a good balance between the sharp dialogue and the more tender moments. His work here is far better than what he choked up for The Last King of Scotland. The cinematography by Alfonso Beato only furthers the normality and subtlety of his colleagues. They aren’t bathed in some sort of angelic light, nor are they drowned in shadow to make them look menacing. It’s a nice contrast to the production design, which makes the entire proceedings seem entirely authentic, not to mention very pleasing to the eye.

After watching the film a few days ago, I found myself almost transfixed by the life of Diana. I was only 14 when she died, and I remember the emotions that were stirred up in the people around me. What was it that made her so special to so many people? While asking others about their thoughts on the subject, a woman told me that the reason was simple: “Every girl wants to be a Princess. Many girls lived their dream through Diana.” I understood what this lady was thinking, Blair did refer to her as “the People’s Princess,” but it’s too easy for me. That can’t be what it was, it’s not that simple. This was a life whose tragic end brought people all across the world to their knees, their eyes filled with tears, and their hearts filled with pain. As of this writing, I am no further in reaching my conclusion, and I doubt that I ever will be, but I like to think that the reason was that Diana was an incredibly powerful woman, strong in her convictions, and determined to live her life the way she saw fit. In that respect, she’s not too different from the Queen, and this film does a good job of showing that.

Read more articles by Clayton L. White