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Viewing the movie now, I think viewers may be slightly more sympathetic toward the Queen.The movie portrays the royal family with Prince Philip, Elizabeth's husband (expertly played by actor James Cromwell) as a mean-spirited and nasty man who always has to put his oar in. Callous Prince Philip took the boys (Prince William and Hall, not portrayed in the movie) out hunting for a stag during the mourning period.The Queen and royals remained in Balmoral while the public seethed. Looking back, the paroxysms of grief that were displayed by the public now seem excessive. "The Queen" (2006) is a wonderful, fascinating movie with a great script, superior cinematography, and great acting by Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II and by Michael Sheen as a toothy Tony Blair. Elizabeth drives herself around the huge Balmoral estate, and she sees a beautiful stag. When Diana died, the royals were ensconced in Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
All of this, of course, involves guesswork and supposition by the screenwriter since few were privy to what went on in the royal establishment.
The Queen Mum (in a brilliant piece of casting played by Sylvia Syms) is cold-hearted.
Finally Blair convinces the Queen that the media is after her head, and the public is turning against the monarchy.Through all of this Helen Mirren does a masterful job of making the Queen a flawed but real and human person.Newsreel footage is used with great skill.
It's all about the death of Prince Diana, the royals' reaction and behavior after her death and the way the public in an outpouring of grief turned their wrath against the royal family believing them to be indifferent to her death.
The movie shows the newly elected Blair benefiting from the furor and shows him imploring the Queen to show some consideration for her subjects who wanted her to be almost mourner-in-chief.
Prince Charles is ineffectual, weak, and bungling.
The Queen shows her disdain for him and has some nasty cracks to make about her playgirl sister Margaret.
It's an engrossing look at the royals.
The symbolism of the stag is not completely clear, whether it shows Elizabeth's reaction to her predicament, whether it's Diana, or whether it shows that she values animals above human beings.
As the people start to turn on the monarchy you see him as a man who is, not trying to tell the monarchy what to do, but trying to help the monarchy through a crisis into a better position in the court of public opinion, and Sheen masterfully embodies this.Never does the movie take a position as to whether the monarchy is good or bad, outdated or what Britain needs at this time. As the British public clamors for an open memorial for the woman Prime Minister Blair called "The People's Princess", Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) chooses to keep everything private, taking her grandsons to Balmoral Castle to help them in their time of loss. It doesn't examine Princess Diana's life, or who was at fault in her death. Without any word from the royal family though, the British people become angered, and are soon close to calling for the dissolution of the crown.Princess Diana's death was a very tragic event that led to a sense of lost amongst people the world over. Mirren's performance is truly the tour de force of the film, but one also can't count out Michael Sheen's portrayal of Prime Minister Blair. Depicting a situation like this isn't an easy task for film, so how did Stephen Frears do with his movie The Queen.Amazingly. You see Blair trying his best to do what he can for a family that, from the outside, doesn't appear to want to do anything for itself.
With a script written by Peter Morgan (Frost/ Nixon, The Damned United, The Last King of Scotland, etc). Shortly before Diana's death, Tony Blair was elected to the position of Prime Minister, and while things looked somewhat smooth, no one could have expected the hardships he was about to go through in dealing with what became something of a national crisis. which is actually the second in something of a series starring Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, The Queen is not only a look at the inner workings of the British government in a time of crisis, but is also a look at the differences between the branches of government and the way they think. Accomplishing this kind of movie in this day and age is a great achievement.If you're a fan of films dealing with history, or the inner workings of government, particularly the British government I highly recommend this film.
Shortly after the election of Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) to the position of Prime Minister, Princess Diana was killed in a horrific car accident. Working off interviews from unnamed sources within the queen's employ and staffers who worked with Blair, Morgan crafts a script that catches the nuances of the inner workings of the government in this type of situation.To really bring this out, you really need great acting, and in Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II you completely see the struggles, differences, and even similarities between these two figures. As Queen Elizabeth II, Helen Mirren shows you a woman who is strong and solid in her ways but also worries about her position in the history of the monarchy. You see Blair as a man trying to lead Britain into a new era, and sees things differently with the monarchy, but still holds the monarchy in high regard. They also don't believe that Diana should be mourned on a public level since she no longer was a member of the royal family. You see the difference between the settings where the monarch lives and the lower levels of the government reside, and the images of the country side at Balmoral Castle, and the views of the castle interior are breathtaking. It's no secret that Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Di did not get along, especially when considering the fact that Diana was not quiet about her former husband's, Prince Charles, infidelity among other things and was dating a Muslim. A masterful feat for the director, the movie really just examines the monarchy and the British government in this day and age through this crisis.
Throughout the movie you see that the Queen and the royal family are very old school, choosing to hide emotion and mourn in private rather than display their feelings to the world. Then you have Tony Blair who wants to move the government in a new direction, and can't believe the way the royal family is handling this: with a lack of warmth in their proceedings. On top of that, the eye for attention to detail is amazing. With superb acting, directing, and writing this film shows what any film dealing in this nature of material should really be like.5/5
The Queen has been raised to believe in absolute values. We are all whores and we will kill everything we love (pay attention to the scene with the deer: the greatest moment in contemporary cinema) to stay in the spotlight. But she lives in a dark age of consumerist, media mediated shallowness. When her people desert her for the false image of a demented daughter-in-law, she must choose between what she has been taught is "true" and what the marketing people tell her she must "be."This film suggests that identity in the modern age is a hoax. This is the wittiest, most profound film of the 21st century. Probably there has been no film since the days of "Pygmalion" in which the British cinema has come so close to besting Shakespeare.
Tony also reminds the 'wicked press' that Dianne: ".threw everything the queen offered back in her face, and for the past few years dedicated her life 24/7 to destroying everything the queen held dear." Keeping this final and climactic speech of Tony Blair in mind, makes watching this film a 2nd time all the more interesting. (Her translation of the queen's words would probably not be allowed here). If you are a fan of English History, you MUST have this film. He's a competent young Prime Minister who agrees with progression, but he also has a respect for traditions as well as the monarchy.
The film begins with Tony Blair's rise to power. Very quickly, you really need to see this film with hindsight to appreciate it fully. The major plot of this movie is that the royal family has an unprecedented circumstance here. (Remaining unaffected).
(1) For the monarch to survive, it must be willing to be flexible with the times. From here, we see Dianne's fatal accident, and while the queen acknowledges the tragedy, Prince Charles is the only one who feels that Dianne has to be treated with royal respect even though she is an X princess). The death of an X princess who was popular. Add to that that Tony Blair is just settling in, and he knows that certain parties are wondering as to the usefulness of the monarchy. This is another depressing, yet phenomenal film.
Prince Charles receives gentle treatment in this film. He seems to know 2 major things. (2) Even more important, unlike his mother, Charles is aware that the Dianne they knew is NOT the Dianne the majority of people knew. While the movie is called "The Queen," one could easily argue that the true star is Tony Blair. Without going on for too long, her majesty Queen Elizabeth II has legitimate reasons to dislike Dianne. And we can see that Tony's wife does not think much of the queen. While his wife is anti monarchist, Tony knows that England has a need for the monarchy and they (for the most part) want the monarchy: "Spare me the 'off with their heads' routine." At one point, Tony has to (with some regret) 'strong arm' the Queen to take required action about Dianne.
(So things are unstable). And to complicate things further, she tries to gain control of the situation the way she has in the past. Perhaps the most moving point in this film is when after doing this difficult action, Tony Blair faces down the hostile press and explains that Queen Elizabeth II never wanted this job, that she watched it kill her father King George VI, and that she did the job she never wanted with dignity and grace for almost 50 years.
WHERE IS SHE.Of course, ruined by the I HATE THEM WHY WERE THEY MADE FLIP THE LITTLE FLAP OPEN DVD CASE. I am VERY DISAPPOINTED Helen did not do a commentary.
Had NO Interest in it when released.Being from the United States I have NO interest in the British Royal Family, Princess Diana, any of them.I watched the film 1 day & did enjoy it.Helen did deserve the Oscar for the role. I did not think I was going to like the film.
Arranged marriage & she ended up cheating in the marriage as well.Has normal extras on the DVD. Only other film of hers I had ever seen was I was 1st in the door opening day for "The Mosquito Coast".And, I believe the film.
Yep, we knew they did NOT care about Diana. This is HER FILM & won the Oscar for it.
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