Analysis/ Opinion Every time I saw him stammer while public speaking I suffered with him.

Rating: 10/10 (26 March 2020)

The King's Speech
Being a person that has suffered from stage fright in my past, I felt pain watching Prince George give a speech. Colin Firth's brilliant performance as the struggling prince that was crippled from childhood and had to claw back from the abyss into the light of public exposure was beautifully sympathetic. Every time I saw him stammer while public speaking I suffered with him, but the empathy the movie elicited glued me to the tv experiencing his venture of self-discovery and identity.
The movie was surreptitiously introducing elements in the atmosphere in a way that added to the narrative: Lionel's reception of George in the first therapy session where he gets greeted by his son as a way to show the king that he has been able to help people improve, the stories with his children as a way of demonstrating that he has a family that loves him despite all his flaws, Lionel treating him as his child when George's father dies and listening to his story of abuse when he was younger, Lionel treating George as an adult after his entire confession by offering him alcohol. All these little gestures add priceless features to the tone of the movie and help Lionel establish a connection with Bertie and transform George into a multi-dimensional and admirable person, despite his condition.
There is so much background information added into understanding George's stammering. It is rich in psychological content to humanize him. George suffered abandonment and abuse when he was a child; he felt his voice was not valuable enough to be heard. This is why every time he got angry his stammering largely disappeared and when he was confronted to his brothers his stammering was amplified. Lionel explained the connection of abandonment to his condition and that it was a result of nurture and not nature. George was repeatedly attempting to escape his royal duties in diverse ways. George's father admitted that he wants him to be afraid of him just like he was of his father. George is also afraid of his own shadow and wants to stay away from the public eye, while living in mitigated fear. All of these details bring George's condition to a new complexity.
The dialogue is also good. Poor and content is rich and rich enough is a quote from Shakespeare that gave so much dimension to the character in a time where he needed to connect with the English aristocracy. The dialogue between Lionel and George where they contend for equality and separation is also brilliant in explaining the process that Lionel attempted to conduct in therapy. There are scenes where the dialogue is highly eloquent and articulate and also others where King George despite his limitations was able to speak eloquently.
I really recommend this movie to people that are suffering from public speaking or have difficulty being themselves, because it goes into topics few movies cover, and it does it in a way that is ample with phenomenological content.