Mirren reigns as queen of acting in brisk biopic

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2007)

It's an odd sensation peeking into the lives of Monarchy. Since there are no reality TV shows on surviving the monarchy, a viewer just doesn't know how much is fiction and how much is fact. At times it seems too ordinary to be plausible and at others it feels too dramatically forced to be real. Yet all the way through you are riveted.
In the case of "The Queen" we vicariously peer into the life of HRM Queen Elizabeth the Second during the crucial week following the tragic death of Princess Diana. This film portrays the tensions caused by the monarch's knee-jerk stoic response, while popular outcry from her subjects demands a more intimate approach.
This film doesn't pull any punches showing clearly it falls on the side of portraying a monarchy that is dangerous out-of-touch with its subjects. An institution so entrenched in the culture of it's citizenry so as to seem indispensable is suddenly teetering on the brink of extinction with the death of the "People's Princess".
However, the subject matter itself may not be forefront on most audience member's minds that are only now discovering this film, well after it's pre-holiday release. The tide of critical praise and awards momentum building behind Helen Mirren's portrayal in the title role, culminating with a Golden Globe win for best actress last Monday night signaling a virtual shoe-in for an Oscar nomination, might be the real reason there are bums in the seats in front of this flickering gem.
What a surprise then to find such a well-crafted film behind it all. "The Queen" moves along quite briskly unlike it's rather stogy subject matter. Surprisingly, also unlike its chief subject, it is emotionally pliable, and pulls at all your weak-spots. The score, pacing and cinematography combine to make this a refreshingly agile ride for such a seemingly stale subject.
The acting, of course, is nothing short of sublime on the part of Ms. Mirren. Her portrayal is so subtle, so as to make her seem like the genuine article, while those around her seem like, well... mere actors in a movie about the queen. It is as if the producers hired Queen Elizabeth to play herself in a dramatic reenactment with the rest of the roles populated by thespians. After this performance it will be difficult for the queen herself to seem as real.
The comment is not to disparage the other performances in any way, it is simply to highlight just how elevated Ms. Mirren's craft is. For example the subtle look she gives at the end of her live address to the people is so incredibly subtle, yet so fierce and so clear. It is astonishing in it's depth and the facility with which she delivers it, holding you in a vice-grip by sheer telepathic force alone. It doesn't get any more real than this.
This film also delivers another top-notch performance, that by Michael Sheen, portraying Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is equal to the high bar set by Ms. Mirren, presenting a seamless and uncanny Blair.
Watching this film one can only hope director Stephen Frears is planning a sequel of sorts, dramatizing the plight of Blair and his controversial backing of Bush's war on terror, however that plays out. Indeed, Blair's eventual fall from grace is briefly prognosticated towards the end.
In addition to some beautiful cinematography, one of the most admirable crafts in this film has to be the editing. Great care is taken to seamlessly interweave real-life news events footage into the fictionalized world the actors and filmmakers inhabit. By doing so this film successfully navigates what would have been a massive stumbling block. Can you imagine any actress struggling to portray Princess Diana? How could anyone glow the way she did? Most biopics stubbornly refuse to combine the worlds of fiction and real-life. "The Queen" dealing with high profile media figures almost has no choice but to.
Biopics have never been more in vogue than they are these days. Some recent successes have been James Mangold's "Walk the Line" and Mirren's own real-life partner Taylor Hackford's "Ray".
"The Queen" now ranks up there with these master works.