What a lovely Queen indeed

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2007)

From Academy Award nominated director Stephen Frears comes The Queen, the story of the untimely death of Princess Diana and the toll it placed on Queen Elizabeth of England and her royal subjects. Helen Mirren plays the beautiful monarch in the most spot on biopic performance of the 2006.
Writer Peter Morgan, responsible for penciling The Last King of Scotland, makes this rather short film everything to gander and awe at. The dialogue is completely engaging never leaving the viewer outside the room rather, inviting us in to this tragic time of loss and accountability.
Mirren as stated before, brings her best performance of her career. Within the subtlety of Queen Elizabeth lies the torment and frustration of a powerful woman thrust into a difficult situation. Besides bringing forth a strange and eerie resemblance of the woman, Mirren doesn't just imitate like other actors tend to do, she inhabits the woman, both inside and out. The subtlety is quite beautiful and quite intimidating and the viewer feels awkward while viewing Ms. Mirren on screen. Not since her overrated performance in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, has Helen Mirren been so good.
Michael Sheen, who has been nearly invisible in Hollywood plays the Prime Minister Tony Blair. Sheen, also with his subtlety shows power and compassion in the most powerful of scenes. There is no screaming or yelling, just plain nuisance and anxiety. As he tries to save the Queen from herself, he embodies a man that is completely familiar to the audience and shines in his most tender moments. What Sheen brings is much charisma and a strong likability factor that lacks often in films, especially when it's a biopicture.
You can easily tell that director Stephen Frears has a high admiration for the Queen of England. To make a film where nothing really happens, seem like everything just happened is a triumph. And that's what The Queen is, a triumph, that is exquisitely acted and powerfully written. Along with Alexandre Desplat's score that adds tension to each scene, this film is easily one of the best films of 2006.
Grade: ***½/****