News alone does not make Art

Rating: Null/10 (7 May 2007)

"The Queen": Helen Mirren stars as Queen Elizabeth during the period just before, during, and after the death of ex-Princess Diana. This is a VERY focused film that does not veer off into studies of the other members of the royal family. If it looks at a second person with any depth, it's Tony Blair, who was new to the government. I found it interesting for the events of Diana's death, as seen through the eyes of Queen Elizabeth, to be compressed into 103 minutes, but I do not expect the "newsworthiness" aspect of this film will have "legs" into the future. One set of very interesting scenes revolve around a huge, elegant, 16-point stag on their "country" property. Elizabeth has two encounters with him. You initially think she reveals her "humanity" through him by responding to his beauty, but she sees herself AS him for other reasons and, the second encounter does not offer her the fantasized elegance of the first. It's a very good symbol.