Beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2011)

With 12 Academy Award Nominations, it is no wonder I suppose that my expectations of this movie were high. The movie narrates of king George VI, father of United Kingdom's current Queen Elizabeth II, and mainly about how he overcame his stammering. We see the king in his long sessions with speech therapist Lionel Logue (a fantastic performance of Geoffrey Rush) and in his palace among his family, struggling with his shame and frustrations.
Someone who had seen this movie before I did, said to me: "It's a great movie. No one gets killed, no one falls in love, and yet it is a great movie." And it is. If it were not for the marvelous directing and camera work, it is for Colin Firth. My goodness, what an amazing actor; the way in which he portrays George VI with all his sides (his ferociousness as well as his fragility) is frankly moving. If he indeed wins the Academy Award for Best Actor, I will be extremely happy. It seems Colin Firth has been underestimated a lot since the start of his career; he finally gets the recognition he deserves. Absolutely brilliant.
En then we have of course Geoffrey Rush, whom I mentioned before, and who is funny as the unconventional but dedicated speech therapist. And there's Helena Bonham Carter, of whom I've never been a fan, but who also deserves praise for her performance.
As for the film itself, it's certainly been directed by a still very young, but talented actor. The camera work is lovely, as well are the decors and the lightning.
I could start talking about that I sometimes felt this movie was leaning too much on Colin Firth's performances and that the story line seemed a bit boring sometimes, but I won't; the many good points of the film surpass its few less good points.