The Queen

The British royal family has weathered abdications, wars, and scandal. But one of the nastiest hits to them in the twentieth century came when Princess Di was killed.

And so "The Queen" tries to get inside the perfectly-permed head of the British Queen Elizabeth II, nearly ten years ago. Helen Mirren gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the title character, as she attempts to weather public and personal difficulties. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

The movie opens with the election of Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), who comes to visit the queen (Mirren), despite being rather nervous about his new job. The country has been off balance ever since Di died in a car crash a few weeks ago, and her passing leaves the royals with mixed feelings. The queen decrees that since Diana divorced Prince Charles, she was no longer a royal, and her arrangements are to be left to her family.

What she doesn't realize is that the people ADORED Diana, and continue to adore her in the weeks that follow. Then the press joins in, berating the royal family for coldly ignoring the ex-princess, and heralding the Labour Party Blair. Her husband and mother think that she should continue doing nothing -- but the Queen has learned that sometimes the people need to be appeased.

"The Queen" unfolds slowly like an old book, and Stephen Frears gives it the dignified gloss that usually belongs to older movies. Scenes that could have been maudlin or cliche are underplayed, which makes them more powerful. One example is of the queen peering in as Charles tells his young sons that their mother has died.

Fortunately, as in real life, there's also comedy as well as confusion and tragedy; Peter Morgan injects some humor when a nervy Blair meets the Queen for the first time. Morgan also spins u[ the kind of dialogue we can imagine the droll Elizabeth or prickly Prince Philip saying ("Sleeping in the streets and pulling out their hair for someone they never knew. And they think WE'RE mad!").

Mirren doesn't normally look much like Elizabeth II. She's younger, taller, and prettier. But with some padding and makeup, she manages to BECOME Elizabeth II. She's dignified, haughty, yet Mirren manages to bring across that she's bewildered and vulnerable as well. In short, she makes her version of Elizabeth II a person.

She's also backed by magnificent performances by Sheen and James Cromwell. Cromwell is excellent as the crotchety, stubborn Prince Philip, who thinks the best way to deal with grief is to go hunting. And Sheen is very good as the Prime Minister who is just starting his work, and who gains a new perspective on the royals.

"The Queen" is a unique, quietly compelling film, as it explores what might have happened within the royal family -- and the person that Queen Elizabeth might be, underneath the royal mask.

Good lord, where to begin. I saw this movie in theatres the second it opened here in Toronto; I wasn't particularly interested in the British Royal Family prior to having seen it and I didn't know much about Helen Mirren at all; I'd only seen her in Calendar Girls, but I thought the subject matter would be interesting and I was curious as to how they'd manage to pull off a depiction of Queen Elizabeth II.

I love this movie. I love everything about this movie, from the writing to the directing to the acting - especially the acting. Michael Sheen is terrific and captures the younger Tony Blair's boyish charm, enthusiasm, and knack for being in touch with what the public wants. James Cromwell and Sylvia Syms were great as Prince Phillip and the late Queen Mum, respectively, and Alex Jennings was adequate as Prince Charles; he at least half-convinced me that he was a whiner, which is what my opinion of Prince Charles was and still is. However, this movie of course belongs to Helen Mirren, who is a goddess of acting. She pefectly captures Queen Elizabeth II's grace, dignity, sense of duty, and dry wit, and manages to convey the sense of bewilderment that one would assume is natural for a person to feel when people who've loved you all your life suddenly hate you for doing what you think is appropriate. Regardless of Queen E's personal feelings about the late Princess Di, she did not stay holed up at Balmoral out of spite; she stayed there because she wanted to keep what was going on private. She doesn't believe in big public displays of emotion and never has, and prior to Princess Diana's death, the British public were by and large all right with that. How was she to know that in the blink of an eye, she was to abandon the way she'd always done things and behave in a manner that she considers to be distasteful?

This is a smart, sharp film, that tries to convey to the audience that no one is perfect, that everyone is human, and that everyone in it tried to do what they thought was right - and it reminds you that people have different ideas of what is right. For Tony Blair, it was obvious that the Queen needed to make more of an effort to convey that she was sad. For Queen E, it never occurred to her to express her feelings (aside from the statement of regret that had already been issued, which the movie does not make clear) in any other manner than was her custom: dignified, quiet, and private. The film is very informative and accurate, and everything about it is elegant and tasteful. Helen Mirren and the entire cast rule.

, This was a geat movie, even my teenagers enjoyed it....it was well worth the money, would watch it again