The Queen

Rating: 9/10 (13 November 2006)

Stephen Frears' new film was a bit of a question for me, whether it was going to be any good or just a nice little portrait Queen Elizabeth the Second telling us nothing we didn't already know. Sitting back now I can't understand why I questioned Frears at all.
What this film's best point is, is that it never takes one side in anything. Almost every character is given their side or opinion, and none of them are made to seem in the wrong. The Royal Family wanting to keep the whole matter of Diana's death as quiet as possible, for the sake of dignity and the two princes, and New Labour wanting to go with the public opinion, make an event of it, and use this as a chance to modernise an institution many feel is archaic. At one point Prince Phillip points out that Diana was two totally different people; to the Royals she was the mother of the future King of England, an ex-wife, adulterous (come on, is Charles Harry's father? Look at him!) and a complete embarrassment. Even Blair states at one point she "seemed to spend 24/7 trying to bring down everything they hold dear", but to the public she was a saint, Princess of Hearts (God I hate that phrase) charity worker, a martyr of the establishment and each side could not understand the others point of view.
And it's here that the very heart of the film lies, in managing to portray the very heart of British society, this combination of tradition and modernization. What made this time so striking and resounding was that it starkly highlighted these two aspects and brought them to a point where it almost seemed that one would overcome the other. For what seemed like the first time the Queen did not understand her subjects wishes for her. The Queen has her family telling her that she is totally right to act the way she does, tradition dictates it. Tony Blair has members of his party, lead by the one character who seems to have no redeeming features, Alastair Campbell, who see anything that make the party look good should be used to full effect.
The actors are amazing, mainly because they seem to have avoided trying to do impressions of those they portray and instead act the characters. Special mention has to go to Michael Sheen as an excellent Tony Blair. (Am I the only one who really sees a physical resemblance between the young Tony Blair and Alan B'stard?) Sheen has captured the exact voice and mannerisms of the PM, and manages to portray both the ambitious, successful politician and a man incredibly nervous in the job he actually has to do, realising in this crisis exactly how hard it will be to balance everything together, slowly realising what it must have been for the Queen for over 50 years.
But, of course, this is totally Helen Mirren's film. Her portrayal of Elizabeth is perfect, showing us behind the woman who everyone claimed had no heart, merely being a woman in a time beyond her generation who is facing the fact she is not as in touch as once she was with the feelings of the public. A person who has done a job for nearly half a century as best she can, given her life to her country, and suddenly find herself the focus of public hatred. Having to take advice from a Prime Minister who hasn't been in office 6 months As she points out to Blair towards the end; enjoy you're popularity, as one day the public will turn on you just as they turned on me.
This may only be based of real events, and we don't know if this is how events really went, but in this film we have a portrait of modern England, the internal conflict that makes the country was it always has been, and something that puts human faces on those we never see as people.