Visually stunning, beautifully written, fantastically acted; 2nd best film of the year

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2010)

Despite all of its lavish production values, The King's Speech greatest asset and strongest suit is its fantastic script, written by David Seidler. In the spirit of his contemporary, Peter Morgan (writer of The Queen, Frost/Nixon and other great films), and also The Social Network, Seidler takes what would seemingly be a very trivial anecdote – King George VI of England's speech therapy sessions – and manages to create a genuinely compelling and fascinating drama out of it. Like Aaron Sorkin's script for The Social Network, Seidler manages to take this unconventional premise and find the classic dramatic arc within it. Structurally, The King's Speech is one of the best screenplays in recent memory. The king is faced with a number of obstacles that he needs to overcome in order to achieve his goal, and as the film goes along and he gets help from the people around him, he learns how to change and eventually moves on. I think that recently, many writers have forgotten about the basic elements of storytelling required to create something truly engaging. Many directors these days rely purely on visuals to tell their stories. But film is just as much a written medium as it is a visual one.
However, that isn't to say that The King's Speech doesn't deliver on the visual level as well. Directed with signature flair by up-and-comer Tom Hooper, the film is one of the most visually stunning I have seen all year. Hooper, who has only directed one feature prior to this but enjoyed a very prolific television career, having directed the Elizabeth I mini-series with Helen Mirren as well as the monumental John Adams mini-series for HBO, has, in a relatively short amount of time, managed to develop a very distinct and strikingly beautiful visual style. In this film, he goes all-out with his camera placement and movement: Wide-angle lenses, lengthy steadicam shots, off-center compositions, beautiful settings, gorgeous, naturalistic side-lighting all of these elements come together to create a rich, beautiful, almost Kubrickian visual style. It is exactly the type of visual style I personally enjoy, and it is a thrill to see a director (and cinematographer) take such a loose and dynamic approach to material that otherwise could have come across as very stiff. Of course, the beautiful locations and fantastic and lavish production design and costume design only further compliment the cinematography. Another important element that enriches the dynamics of the film is Alexandre Desplat's beautiful, understated score, which combines his own compositions with fantastic pieces of classical music that really work well to enhance the emotions of the story.
In costume dramas, the acting is often just as if not more prominent than the cinematography, costume and set design, and The King's Speech is no exception. At the center of the film are two monumental performances from two of the greatest actors working today: Colin Firth, whom I still believe deserved the Oscar last year for his sublime turn in Tom Ford's A Single Man, and whom I believe deserves the Oscar this year for his equally sublime performance as King George VI. Firth not only embodies and captures the monarch in terms of his stammer and other mannerisms, but also really breathes life and emotion into a man facing a heavy burden, caught in conflict, having to overcome a large number of obstacles including his debilitating stutter but also being belittled by his older brother and father, not having the faith of his people, and needing to win back that faith with the one thing he can't do: public speaking. Complimenting and almost completing his performance is an equally fantastic turn from Geoffrey Rush, who delivers one of his best performances yet as the king's speech therapist. The dynamic between the two of them is one of the best I have seen between two characters in any film this year; they riff and play off one another in just the perfect way, and their initial animosity turned bonding is simply wonderful to watch unfold. Rounding out the supporting cast are wonderful performances from Helena Bonham-Carter as the king's loving wife (and future Queen Mother), and Guy Pearce as King George's snooty, outrageous brother who is more obsessed with his married American socialite girlfriend than with actually doing a good job as monarch. It is a wonderful ensemble that works fantastically well together, and results in some of the best performances of the year.
Although I would rank it up there with the likes of The Remains of the Day and Atonement, The King's Speech is also set apart from those movies for one important reason: It is funny, and certainly much funnier than I expected it to be. Some scenes had me in stitches on the floor: the cursing scene will go down as one of the best I have seen in any film this year. Whereas many costume dramas are heavy-handed and feature dreary, down endings, The King's Speech is quite optimistic: characters overcome their obstacles and we are genuinely happy to see them succeed. It almost seems like an oxymoron: A British costume drama crowd-pleaser. But The King's Speech is just that: A wildly enjoyable piece of entertainment, with a heart, a fantastic story and script, and beautiful production values, music and cinematography easily make this one of the best films of the year.