An elegant film

Rating: 8/10 (25 November 2006)

Frears definitely got the casting spot-on for this film - nobody could have portrayed HM Queen Elizabeth II as magnificently as the great Helen Mirren, whom I predict will win the Oscar this year. It could not go to a more deserving actor.
The film is really well done, with the thoughtfulness, style and grace needed to depict the sensitive subject of the aftermath of Princess Diana's severely untimely death. Mirren's uncanny ability to evoke Elizabeth II electrifies every frame she appears in. I appreciated especially how we never truly get inside her head; she remains a cypher of sorts til the very end of the movie, although there are a few scenes where she does allow human emotion to break through the surface, but it's always done in a controlled way. The most revealing scene features a stag, whom the Queen is trying to shoo off so he's not hunted down; we can easily see how she relates herself to this inevitably trapped animal - it's a supremely effective analogy for her own life, and this scene is also done in a restrained way, keeping it elegant, subtle and sublime.
Also especially effective here is Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, who manages just the right balance of respect for his Queen, along with the clear-headedness befitting his own position.