Not as engaging as I had hoped, but still textbook compelling

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2007)

Apropriately dry character study, which details Queen Elizabeth's recent popularity crisis in the wake of Princess Diana's untimely death, may not be the engaging drama of sublime proportions many Americans had hoped for, but still maintains a level of political and social intrigue that rivals anything personally substantial England has imported in recent memory. Using the disastrous Al-Fayed/Diana auto-crash and subsequent royal reaction as a springboard, the reliable Stephen Frears shows the glaring disconnect found amongst a detached and privileged elite against the outrage of a mourning public with compelling results.
Although more subtle, witty, and lightly conceived then I was hoping for, The Queen nevertheless remains a captivating and illuminating piece of contemporary English history for the screen, all held together of course by Helen Mirren's masterful performance, and also a powerfully ambiguous and provocatively perceptive (though underwhelming in it's praise) screenplay. It is in these acute moments, which try to envision the tense reality behind closed doors of a notoriously unemotional family, that the unique charm and relevance of a movie such as The Queen begins to take hold. Whatever historical events the film likes to point out, such as the focus of The Queen's involvement with new prime minister Tony Bliar in combating this controversy, comes second to Mirren's quieter moments of old-fashioned introspection.
At it's heart, The Queen remains a politically engaging and mildly amusing character study, echoing the hunger for a more inviting social climate through the doomed analysis of England's first family. The movie may play a few cards in favor of a royal idealism that betrayed the social climate of the time, but the gently fascinating combination of old-world values meeting new-world situations remains as captivating a political British movie as any to arrive on shelves in America for years.