The Queen

THE QUEEN

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: strong thematic elements, language

Rated:

I was so young when Princess Diana died that I remember very little of it, save that for more than a fortnight, all eyes were on England as public opinion and the monarchy stood at odds. Ten years after the death of the Princess of Wales, Miramax, in association with British Broadcasting, have brought a quiet but powerful interpretation of events to the big screen.

There is a climate of political change in London, for the public have voted highly conservative Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) as the Prime Minister. Not a favorite among the royals, and inexperienced when it comes to dealing with the monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) fears it might bring on a trend of modernization to Parliament. Blair is not long in office when the tragic death of Princess Diana shatters the royal household and stuns a nation. Confronted with this public humiliation and disaster, the Queen attempts to shield her grandchildren from the press, while maintaining her desire for a very "private" funeral for the ousted divorcee. In the meantime, Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) has sensed the current political climate is not in favor of the monarchy and seeks to make it apparent to the public that he sides with Blair, pushing for a public memorial service.

The Queen's quiet and withdrawn behavior soon brings on the accusations and slander of the press, who have adopted Diana as their darling, fueled on by a well-meaning but unintentionally damaging speech by Blair. The result is a very emotionally impacting look behind the event of what the rest of the world only watched from a distance. Most Americans cannot fathom what it was like to truly experience Diana's death. To us, she was a misguided, misbehaving royal known only through the tabloids. Diana was neither an angel nor a hellion, and the film is very fair in representing the glorification of her through the biased public eye, as well as the resentment toward her among the monarchy.

It's a difficult film to interpret on many levels because often the entire motivation is missing (how can we truly know what went through Elizabeth's mind?), but it seems to waver back and forth between admiration for then-popular Blair stepping up in an hour of crisis, and quiet respect for the woman who was courageous enough to face the public after she was scorned. It's full of subtle moments and occasional glimpses of humor, but has just as many poignant and sorrowful scenes. It's really the performances that stand out. I'll never forget the look on the Queen's face when she sees the flowers and notes, many of them anti-monarchy, left against the palace gates in memorandum to Diana, nor when she nearly weeps in the wilds of England, only to have her solace interrupted by the very stag her husband (James Cromwell) and grandsons have been relentlessly stalking. One can understand the mistakes she made, as well as her motivation for them.

The film style does take getting used to, since there is much use of actual footage from news reports and exterior shots of the crowds at Westminster Abbey and the palace. In some sense I felt it would have been more powerful if they would have cast an actress to play Diana, but it also lent a sense of gritty realism to have fuzzy film footage in the news montages. The emotions of the princes is also noticeably absent, as we never more than hear about them or see them in passing. There are hardly any content concerns, despite its rating, merely a muffled f-word, one abuse of Christ's name, and a couple of British obscenities. There are two mild allusions to Charles' mistress, and Prince Phillip complains that there will be homosexuals at Diana's wedding.

Animal lovers might squirm when hearing that a stag has been killed; we see the carcass and severed head. It's a fascinating glimpse into the political climate of the time, as well as the symbolism behind its subtler moments, such as the meaning behind the stag (was it meant to represent Diana? Elizabeth? the fall of the monarchy?) and the fact that deep down, despite their royal blood, the monarchy is as human as the rest of us.