The Queen

Rating: 6/10 (4 July 2013)

I could not think of a less appealing subject matter than a royal biopic – even if it is paired with one of my favorite themes – the inability to show emotions – so the fact that The Queen is able to keep my attention and interest at all is a small victory in itself, but I've seen it twice now, and overall, it doesn't do much for me. It is dryly amusing and competently made but it feels impersonal (and not just in the way that fills a thematic purpose) and like a TV movie in the blandest sense of the word.
The film is unmistakably about the queen, but she is largely depicted through the juxtaposition with others; she comes across as overly strict and reactionary when contrasted with the casual and modern Tony Blair, who wears football shirts and talks of revolution. Similarly, Princess Diana, whose death is at the center of the film, serves as an antithesis, like in a good scene where Prince Charles (in a great performance by Alex Jennings) talks about how she was "warm, physical, never afraid to show her emotions".
There is also some interesting stuff about the queen doubting herself ("Something's happened. There's been a change, some shift in values. When you no longer understand your people, mummy, maybe it is time to hand it over to the next generation."), and a sort of sunk cost fallacy that makes her reluctant to admit she has handled Diana's death incorrectly (exacerbated by the fact that she has too few naysayers around her). All this suggests that it is a critical film, but it never feels very biting. For one thing, it is a bit too merry and lightweight. For another, it is somewhat undermined by a sappy final act in which the queen is largely praised from all directions except Tony Blair's wife.
Predictably, there are a couple of good scenes in which emotions seep through. While the scene where Blair defends and praises the queen feels redundant, it is refreshing to hear someone yell for a change. Also, there is another good scene in which the queen breaks down and cries, with the back against the camera, as if she doesn't want to show it to us viewers even, while still suggesting that the lack of emotion is not due to a lack of capacity, but rather of the perception of what is appropriate for a queen.