In the opening scene of The Queen, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) is sitting for a portrait while watching television coverage of the 1997 election for a new British Prime Minister. The painstakingly hand-painted image and the fleeting televised ones set the scene well for this cinematic study in contrasts.

When newly elected Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) and his wife (Helen McCronry) meet the Queen for the first time a few scenes later, the dichotomy continues. As the Blairs are escorted to the appropriate room, a palace official gives them a crash course in proper in-the-presence-of-the-Queen etiquette—including when to bow, how to pronounce ma'am (as in rhymes with "ham"), and the fact that you're never supposed to show your back to the Queen. To see Mrs. Blair butchering the royal curtsey and the pair of them dutifully shuffling backwards out of the room is utterly charming. And their eye-rolling as they exit the palace hints at the growing chasm between the royal regalia and the people's reality—even that of a fellow national leader.

Helen Mirren is priceless as Queen Elizabeth II

Helen Mirren is priceless as Queen Elizabeth II

The next scene, several months later, is the crash that takes Princes Diana's life. This is the first of several sensitive moments throughout the film handled with the trademark English subtlety and decorum. We see a brief reenactment of Di and Dodi leaving a Paris hotel hounded by the paparazzi, peppered with real-life footage of Diana's life—from the early girlish years to the final international-icon era. Then just a black screen and silence. And a ringing phone, waking the royals—the first of many interruptions this event will bring into their lives.

The way Diana's death should be commemorated is the source of much disagreement. In the first of many phone conversations on the matter with Blair, the Queen says the funeral should be a private matter. The countless number of flowers, candles, cards, and stuffed animals placed outside Kensington Palace, Diana's residence, throughout the following days shows that the people were hoping for something a tad more public. The remainder of the film chronicles the battle between these disparate camps—with Blair unwittingly serving as referee.

Michael Sheen as Tony Blair

Michael Sheen as Tony Blair

It's all an interesting peek at the life of the Royal Family. On the surface, it's such minutia to focus on—the handling of an ex-family member's funeral. But the event obviously embodies so much more—historic precedent vs. modern celebrity worship, the traditional British "stiff upper lip" vs. a nation's grief spilling out into the public square. As the Queen aptly notices later in the film, there's been a change, a shift in values among her people. Yes, she comes to this realization a bit late in the game. But throughout the film we come to see that it's an honest mistake by a woman who was raised with the value of keeping one's feelings to oneself, and of handling everything quietly and with dignity. The dawning realization that she may not be as in touch with her people as she thought is the slow-burning tension of the film.

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As with most Royal Family coverage these days, this easily could have been a nasty bit of tabloid sensationalism. Thankfully, The Queen rises above and takes the traditional English approach of respect and dignity. We see no bloody body when Diana dies, in fact we see no body at all. We're given the briefest hint of Charles (Alex Jennings) telling William and Henry of their mother's death—and we never see the boys' faces throughout the film. When the Queen finally cries, we see her only from behind. There are many scenes the directors and writers could have wrung for easy, cheap emotionalism. Thank goodness they opted instead for nuance, powerful use of silence, and a thoughtful, balanced look at a family tenuously bridging two worlds—past and present, commoner and royal.

The Prime Minister kisses Her Majesty's hand

The Prime Minister kisses Her Majesty's hand

Of course, none of this nuance would have worked without the stellar cast. Oscar talk is already buzzing about Mirren's portrayal of the Queen, and deservedly so. From the opening portrait-sitting scene, she embodies Queen Elizabeth II. And somehow she also communicates the absolutely appropriateness of this as an introduction to our main character—this is a woman who leads her life as if sitting for a portrait, knowing that others are watching and that every detail is being captured for posterity. Her mannerisms communicate volumes—from the way she clutches her pragmatic purses (as if she's about to be mugged any minute) to the way she strides about the palace and the breathtaking English countryside with sensible shoes and determined gait. But it's her facial expressions that are the true genius. Watching disturbing realizations dance across a face that's been trained for decades to be a study in stoicism is a wonder.

Sheen's Tony Blair is pitch perfect as well. In a matter of months this man goes from newly elected leader awkwardly bowing in the Queen's presence to telling her outright that her popularity is plummeting and that she's making a grave mistake in not publicly recognizing Diana's death. This is tremendous range—from intimidated to incredulous and finally to awestruck—and Sheen never under- or over-does any of these tricky emotions. But I wish the writers had helped us get from incredulous to awestruck a bit more smoothly. When Blair angrily defends the Queen to his snarky staff toward the end of the film, I'm taken a bit by surprise. I needed a few more links to his state of admiration.

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The Queen and Prince Phillip look at the flowers from Di's admirers

The Queen and Prince Phillip look at the flowers from Di's admirers

While Jennings does a fine job as Prince Charles—an understandably tentative man caught between traditionalist parents and modernist leanings, between the woman he loves and the one he married, between his stoic mum and the emotional mother of his children—I simply wish they'd cast someone who looked a bit more like the real Prince Charles. In several scenes I was initially confused as to which royal figure or servant he was supposed to be. Also, Charles alludes to the fact there were two Dianas—the public one and the private one. Most of us are well acquainted with the public Diana; it would have been great if they'd given us a bit more of a sense of the private Diana. That also might have helped us better understand the uneasy relationship between her and the Royal Family.

My favorite scenes in the film are the many phone conversations between the Queen and Blair—he in his modest home surrounded by his children's toys, the family dry cleaning, the evening's dinner of slightly burnt fish sticks, she in various well-appointed rooms in the palace or the family estate at Balmoral being attended to by a small army of servants. It's as if Blair is the Queen's tour guide to a new modern era, deftly identifying the public mood and trying to communicate it with as much respect as the powerful, albeit clueless, recipient demands. And the Queen is like a mentor or history teacher, reminding her pupil Blair of the decades of rich tradition that have come before and made this nation what it is today.

Throughout these conversations they both gain respect for the other—along with a realization that they might actually need one another. A thin phone line and the weight of history spans the gap between these two people and their vastly different worlds. And it's the delicate dance they choreograph together in those phone conversations that makes this such a fascinating and moving study of a part of English culture. Whether they make any missteps along the way is for the viewer and future historians to decide.

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Talk About It

  Discussion starters
  1. Trace Blair's thoughts about the Queen and the Queen's thoughts about Blair throughout the film. How do they change throughout the course of the movie? What precipitates the change? What do they come to see and possibly respect in the other
  2. Do you think the Royal Family was cold and unfeeling about Diana's death or were they simply upholding centuries' worth of tradition? Why does Diana trouble them so? What threat does she pose in their lives
  3. When the Queen mourns the stag's death, what is she really grieving? Who or what does the stag potentially symbolize to her
  4. When the Queen finally visits the display of flowers and letters people have left outside the palace, what happens between her and the people? What does this event do for the Queen? What does it do for the public
  5. Do you think the Queen was right or wrong to finally make a televised statement about Diana's death? Do you think she truly meant what she said in the statement?


The Family Corner

For parents to consider

There's hardly anything to offend younger viewers, but trying to get them to sit through and hour and a half of interpersonal conflict and national tension might be a stretch. We do see a decapitated stag hanging from a ceiling after a hunting scene. And we are talking about the death of two young boys' mother. Extramarital affairs are discussed briefly.


What Other Critics Are Saying
compiled by Jeffrey Overstreet

from Film Forum, 10/19/06

There aren't many directors capable of doing what Steven Frears has done so far in his career—a wide array of memorable films which have spanned many subjects in strikingly different contexts, genres, and styles. From sumptuous period pieces like Dangerous Liaisons and Mary Reilly to the hip crime caper The Grifters, small-scale comedies like The Snapper and The Van, troubling thrillers like Dirty Pretty Things, and hip comedies like High Fidelity, he's one of the most versatile directors working today.


But The Queen may be the movie that takes him into the winners' circle at the Oscars. Frears' focus on goings-on within the House of Windsor in the days just before and immediately following the death of Princess Diana is revealing and convincing. And his fictional speculation lets us see the world through the eyes of a woman who lives according to the customs and concerns of a bygone era—Queen Elizabeth II.

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While the film serves to inspire sympathy for the Queen's perspective, it also inspires us to appreciate one of the greatest actors working today. Frears will likely earn a nomination for his direction, but at this stage in the game it looks like Helen Mirren is the front-runner for the Best Actress award.

My full review is at Looking Closer.

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) raves, "Stephen Frears directs beautifully, and even if Peter Morgan's script is mostly speculative, what we see on-screen plays convincingly, just as anyone who followed the proceedings at the time might have imagined. … [A]s a fascinating chronicle of conflict between time-honored tradition and the encroachment of modernity, as exemplified by Blair, The Queen makes compelling drama of a high order."

Mainstream critics are praising Frears—as usual—and heralding her highness.

from Film Forum, 11/16/06
J. Robert Parks (Framing Device) says, "In [Helen] Mirren's hands, Queen Elizabeth becomes not exactly a sympathetic figure but at least one who's more fleshed out than the tabloids and talk shows made her out to be. And Mirren does this with perfect subtlety: an arched eyebrow here, pursed lips there, a simple pause as she speaks or picks up the phone. If this performance doesn't have Academy Award written all over it, I'm not a good prognosticator."

from Film Forum, 11/30/06
Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin (Cinema in Focus) says the film's portrayal of Britain's royalty "is fascinating and one that will raise both feelings of sympathy and sadness. … The Queen reminds us to be careful what you wish for when you want to 'live like a queen.'"

from Film Forum, 02/01/07
Christopher Lyon (Plugged In) calls it "a quiet, profound, and even gently amusing film that accomplishes the unlikely. It builds empathy for an emotionally distant monarch and a (currently) buffeted politician by following them through a difficult week. … Morgan and Frears could easily have turned the royals into a kind of a joke, exaggerating their out-of-touch comments and mannerisms for comic effect. Instead, they play every character with great restraint and even with what you might call affection, allowing their biggest revelations about the nobility and banality of a monarchy in the modern age to be discovered in the smallest movements."

The Queen
Our Rating
3½ Stars - Good
Average Rating
 
(2 user ratings)ADD YOURSHelp
Mpaa Rating
PG-13 (for brief strong language)
Directed By
N/A
Run Time
1 hour 43 minutes
Cast
Steven Mackintosh, Samantha Bond, Emilia Fox
Theatre Release
November 29, 2009 by Miramax
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