And the rest, as they say, is history.

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2008)

The closing shots of The Queen will have you smiling, acknowledging the fact that what comes next in chronological history is what has shaped my country, England, in the last decade as Tony Blair (Sheen) and Queen Elizabeth the Second (Mirren) walk off together through her gardens. It'll have you smiling in recognition that what followed is part of history, part of a history you will have lived through and remembered; after all, what is ten years amongst the vast centuries of history? I think I had such a connection, such a link, to The Queen because Diana's death occurred at a time where I was not too young to remember it happen, nor was I too young to acknowledge how important an event it was. I will remember exactly where I was when I saw it on the morning news after another family member decided to turn on the television for the mere sake of it. I may have been too young to know exactly who Diana was but the general consensus that something truly terrible had happened to someone who truly didn't deserve it was inescapable; the atmosphere and feel of that time is captured perfectly in this film by director Frears be it down to use of news coverage resurrecting nostalgic emotions deep within me or merely down to the mise-en-scene used in the form of props: then England manager Glenn Hoddle on the back of a newspaper and a Sony Playstation complete with games and controller in view at various points.
I recently saw a film entitled JFK which I learnt after seeing was also Oscar nominated for best picture in its respective year. Like JFK, all the British will remember where they were and what they were doing when they learnt of Diana's death  it was an event that hit the American's like Kennedy's death, I'm sure. I think I enjoyed JFK at the level I did because of this film, since it brings out feelings of nostalgia and sadness at once; sort of like the feeling you might get when you look at a photograph of a deceased loved one. The Queen as a film manages to remain extremely authentic, mainly down to its mise-en-scene mentioned earlier, without feeling too much like a send up or a spoof; people who have ever seen an episode of Spitting Image or one of Rory Bremner's Tony Blair impersonations will know what I mean. What can be funny in The Queen is strictly kept to a surreal and constructive level; there is the acknowledgment of memory that makes you smirk every now and again but there is also something rather amusing about watching apparent members of the royal family squabble over things like who wants to watch the television.
I think there are several little coded undercurrent swimming around beneath The Queen's surface. First of all, we must remember what the film is entitled: it's called 'The Queen' despite its subject matter and extremely heavy emphasis on Lady Diana's death. To call Diana's death a 'MacGuffin' would perhaps be a too colloquial expression but the film brilliantly uses it as its backdrop to its events; rather than focus on setting or time, the film lets the found footage of the news and such to place you there rather than feed you establishing shots and crane shots scanning the vast locales of the film. Yes, notice how it is entitled The Queen and notice how it never allows Diana to take over as the focus for the film; it may be about her and her immediate aftermath but it is The Queen's and the royal family's reaction that will dictate where the film will go  Frears never allows the two to cross contaminate.
Then there is Tony Blair to consider. Whilst brilliantly acted, there is more to his performance and character than it seems. Blair announces that he is the new deal; he is the ultimate piece of modernity in terms of politics and world leaders: young, laid back and with children old enough to go to school. "Just call me Tony" is the way the expression goes, I believe. This is where the counterbalance occurs because for the duration of the film, Blair and the Queen are at loggerheads with one another with Blair frequently pointing out what it is he think the Royals should do but the Queen had none of it. Here is the old vs. the new; the modern vs. the traditional clashing at full stretch. This is further emphasised by the spaces they inherit: the royals are in fancy places with vast open rooms whereas Tony is in an office, sleeves rolled up and telling the Queen that he believes it to be "his duty" to suggest such actions. The Queen Mother may think him a silly man but he is daring to challenge the binary opposite of himself in terms of power.
The Queen is a clever film that will evoke emotion to some degree but will not have you crying your eyes out; it's clever like that. It will allow you nostalgia on a certain level but it will never bombard you, favouring etching out memory instead out and out tears before bedtime. What with an extremely authentic look, brilliant acting and a piece of iconography represented through a great stag as the Queen realises the value of life and what she must do when she sees it for a final time, the film is a big winner in almost every department.