Firth V Rush

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2011)

This film is basically a two actor piece with Firth playing the prince who is horror struck at the sense of duty to millions and history in the making which is bearing down upon him, and Rush as the kind yet damaged first world war veteran and failed actor whose initial concern in speech therapy was to help those fellow veterans whose speech had been affected by the stress of war. Both are defined by their voices with Rush being overlooked for acting roles because of his Australian accent ("only RP here old boy") and Firth forced to engage in public speaking out of duty to office despite everyone knowing and dreading his terrible stammer. The scenes with both of them bouncing off each other are riveting. The other characters and scenes seem only there to facilitate this face off between the two. How Colin Firth can be considered the lead actor and Geoffrey Rush a supporting actor is surely a profound injustice to the latter: it must be a close run thing as to which is on the screen most.