Outstanding

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 2008)

Fantastic. I thought Helen Miram playing the Queen was truly believable. I totally bought her performance. Mr. Cromwell as Prince Philip was another outstanding performance. truly on point. The Tony Blair character was another perfect match.
The only performance characters that I thought needed work was the Queen Mother and Prince Charles. The Queen Mother was much smaller in real life and much more older. And Prince Charles character, which was rather good in the acting department, I just couldn't get past his face. The television movie about Diane had a better Charles, who even looked a little like Prince Charles, they should of gotten him to play Charles.
The overall story line I truly believed. The Queen's determination to have a private memorial and "keep it in the family" was all due to her upbringing from her father and the 1000's of Monarchs before her. The scene with the Deer, was truly inspiring and I hope people understood the meaning of that. You see the Queen was grieving for Diana through the Deer and when it was killed by someone else - something in the Queen snapped and she became a "Grandmother" and not just a Queen and decided to share her grief with the world. It was truly fantastic. I watched this movie with my partner and we were both just transfixed on the screen and couldn't move until we really had to take a break - you know to eat, go to the bathroom, get ready for work the next day. I mean - it's a long movie - over 100 minutes. Anyway, after having ourselves a 1/2 hour break to get our next day's life together, we continued the movie (that's the beauty of DVD's) and watch the conclusion.
Brilliant. I have to say, my grandmother was invited and went to Charles and Diana's wedding all those years ago, my grandmother told me that she had never seem a more beautiful wedding in all her life, and she came back with lots of pictures that the public really didn't get to see. Diana was truly something else.
If you have not seen this movie - rent it. You will not be sorry.