Must-See Viewing for Intelligent Film-Goers

Rating: 9/10 (5 February 2007)

If you like smart movies and you've been craving a smart film with a captivating performance, you must see "The Queen." Helen Mirren is breathtaking. I can't tell you the last time I saw a performance I admired as much -- actually, I can -- Bruno Ganz in "Downfall." I will want to watch "The Queen" again and again, just to savor Mirren's performance.
That's acting.
The sets are sumptuous. Again, I'll want to see the film again and again just to lay eyes on all that lush furniture, gilded wallpaper, stone castles and burly Scottish highlands.
James Cromwell makes a wonderful Prince Philip; he's tall, handsome and regal, and yet can be small, mean and rigid; Sylvia Syms is a terrific queen mother. She's a plump English crumpet hiding poisoned currants. Michael Sheen does a very fun imitation of Tony Blair as a sort of bright-eyed chipmunk on speed working to damp down his own hyper energy and charm as he navigates his course past one of the most imposing human landmarks of the twentieth century.
The script is to die for. I -- literally -- laughed AND cried, often at the same time. There are so many funny and heart wrenching lines I thought of "All About Eve," another really, really rich script.
In spite of the world history depicted, and the larger-than-life characters, this is an intimate movie; the moments I'll remember are small ones, for example, when Queen Elizabeth gets out of a jeep and Prince Charles is left alone to drive home. It's an achingly poignant moment in a glittering, just about perfect film.