The Queen [DVD] [2006]

I have never been a particular fan of the Royals, nor indeed of the monarchy itself. I also felt the mass hysteria that overloaded and in many ways out shone Princess Diana's death was of the most hypocritical kind in regards to a guilty media, and outrageously superfluous on behalf of a needy public. Yes, that week was truly a memorable one if you lived in Britain and owned a television set because you couldn't fail to be engulfed in the bleeding heart hysteria that followed on from Diana's untimely demise.

"The Queen," sifts through that week of high drama to tell an elegant and quintessentially British story about our values and our expectations of the family people love to hate. Helen Mirren looks every inch The Queen of England and quite exceptionally captures a portrayal of the woman by investing her with a heartfelt dignity, conviction and humanity, that the real Queen should be nothing less than flattered by. Mirren secured herself that Oscar the moment production wrapped; she is truly sensational, carrying us through the whole movie with a grace we rarely see on the big screen these days. Michael Sheen is also to be praised for his uncanny impression of Tony Blair, although he scratches deeper than just surface imitation and digs deep to unearth the once idealistic, and seemingly honourable Prime Minister in the early days of his premiership. Support also comes courtesy of a terrific James Cromwell who adds that light touch of comic relief in the role of Prince Philip, while Mark Bazeley as Alistair Campbell reminds audiences how instrumentally devious a spin doctor can be. Every performance is spot on and helps do justice to the brilliantly written script by Peter Morgan who somehow has drawn to light the different sides involved in that week of tragedy and media spin without being too intrusive in terms of the grief of Princes William and Harry, while Stephen Frears never turns the stock footage of Diana into something overly ghoulish or unseemly.

Ultimately though, this story is not really about Diana at all, her death merely serving as the catalyst for a deep and painful self-reflection for The Queen on her monarchy and personal aversion to Diana and the circus slowly gathering outside Buckingham palace. Further to that, the film is most sincerely, you could say almost whimsically, about the relationship between The Queen and Tony Blair, their differing views on modern Britain and the general public who populate it. I found myself seeing The Queen and Mr. Blair in quite new lights, putting more faith and respect in the decisions they made in that fateful week, and believing that solidarity, compromise and respect played a key role in laying Diana's memory to rest. It is also very amusing at times too, and when not tickling the ribs with a sardonic sideswipe by Prince Philip or a wry put down by The Queen Mother about Blair's "Cheshire cat grin" Morgan's script and Frears' controlled, beautifully unshowy direction combine to create the most tender and curious of scenes where The Queen encounters a lone stag in the wilds of her estate whilst at her weakest moment, and draws a strength from that rare meeting of beauty up-close. Another gem of a scene is where she is greeted by a little girl who is there not to simply pay her respects to the Princess of Wales, but to the Queen of England herself, with a bouquet of flowers. Very sweet, and very touching.

This truly is a strong piece of work, quite possibly one of the best films of its year, certainly as fine a British production that I have seen in some time. The characters are well drawn and strongly performed, the writing insightful and totally believable, while the warmth of the material makes me think I might start appreciating our Royal family just that little bit more. Certainly if The Queen's emotional wealth of character and strong, traditional values can survive and rise above cynical opportunism and media mined mass hysteria then I'm sure she can survive anything. But above all else "The Queen," goes to show that no matter how unjustly wealthy, obnoxiously powerful or goofily out of touch the Royals may be, as a family unit they are just as complex, dysfunctional and quirky as any other family in Britain. This truly is a royal treat, please do believe the hype and don't let Her Majesty pass you by.

This is a very interesting film, portraying as it does the mismatch between the Royal Family's immediate response to the death of Princess Diana and what a large section of the British public wanted of them. In the week after the accident, public hysteria ran high and, in failing to respond to that, the Family suffered a severe public relations knock. No-one knows more about public relations than spin-crazy Tony Blair and his media manipulator-in-chief, Alistair Campbell, and in the film they are shown to have a far surer grasp of what would 'work' with the public than does the Queen, whose wishes are essentially family-based, centring on an old-fashioned emphasis on privacy and the protection of her bereaved grandsons. But she comes across as a far more sympathetic character than Blair and Campbell. This is partly because of an excellent screenplay and partly because of Helen Mirren's outstanding and uncannily 'right' performance ; partly also because, at this distance, we can see that there is something awful about the disproportionate wildness of the public grief - tons and tons of flowers, hysterical weeping in the streets and so on - which the Queen, a woman from another age whose whole training is based on reserve and control, would find alien and unsettling, particularly as the relationship with Diana had become very strained, for whatever reasons. All of this comes across entirely convincingly in the film. In addition, it tells a very good story and is, in places, unexpectedly funny. So, an unusual film, a one-off, very well done

It is unlikely that any single person is as omnipresent through one's lifetime as an iconoic and long lived monarch. In Britain no one under the age of 55 has known any other head of state, and even in our disrespectful, celebrity driven culture she still enjoys a personal popularity and visual presence that is almost unique.

Her face smiles benevolently from stamps, stares imperiously from bank notes and is stamped on every coin. Letter boxes, pillars and buildings are decorated with her E II R cipher, and the initials `HM' or `royal' precede almost every national institution. From the RAF to HM Government, from the Queen's Speech to those resting at her majesty's pleasure, Elizabeth is everywhere.

And so the spectacle of a film that attempts to accurately and without sensation reveal the inner workings of her family life and mind is undoubtedly one of the cinematic events to be relished in Britain. And with Helen Mirren taking the lead and making the role so sublimely successful, this film is a definite winner.

It could have been the time, just after lunch in a mid-week showing. It could have been the location, genteel Clapham. But it was more likely to be the film, and its royal subject matter. The Queen is one of the first films I have seen where the pensionable audience was dominant and where octogenarians were a visible minority. And, it seem obvious to say, they were all women. As the strains of `Don't Cry for me, Argentina, blasted through the auditorium, the discrete chatter of the royal watching crowd could be heard.

The pre-movie hype was, like the crowd, discrete. The articles focused on Helen Mirren, and dealt with how the evident lese-majeste would be received in Buckingham Palace. The film itself was received with something of a mystery. I knew it focused on the weeks surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, but beyond that I was in the dark.

But the film did not disappoint. The spectacle of a famously private monarch being brought to life in telling detail was intriguing. The role was played with a dry, waspish sense of humour throughout. The Queen was demonstrated as being rational, honour and duty bound and sensible. Her only failing seems to have been to fail to read the mood of a strangely hysterical public, and by the end this seems to be as much a reason for praise as anything. When an annoyingly `in-touch' Tony Blair tells Her Maj that an appearance might help the people with their grief, the Queen almost splutters back in disbelief "their grief?"

It is this divorce from the people at this point that is the central theme of the film. It is the first time she is hated, criticised and subject to the harsh blast of sustained tabloid fury. And Helen Mirren plays the resulting hurt and confused monarch with aplomb. It is one of her finest dramatic moments.

But it is the joy of watching the private moments that could be so easily believed to be real that makes the film. The Queen is a stickler for protocol. Tony Blair is introduced by the Queen's private secretary as the Prime Minister, and the Queen replies quickly "Prime Minister to be, Robin, to be. I haven't asked him yet". Cherie is well played as the frumpy, republican rebel with a devilish wit that is so easy to believe. Blair is similarly convincing as both the poster child of modernity and then the Queen's defender within government. Alistair Campbell is creepily obsessed with the public image and the spin machine that will later consume him.

Most enjoyable is the Duke of Edinburgh, who in real life can always be relied on to provide a comedy aside. He spends most of the film either away hunting, or spluttering in disbelieving indignation at the latest affront from the government or media. His best line comes in relaying the latest invitation list to the funeral, "a chorus line of soap stars and homosexuals!" And propping up the royal comedy double act is the Queen Mother, as similarly wry as her daughter but yet charmingly dotty with age.

The setting is stunning, with most of the action taking place in the Queen's estate in Balmoral. The hunt scenes present an interesting allegory, with Diana, the namesake of the goddess of the hunt, hunted down to eventual death by the press, and her boys taken on a real hunt to get their minds off it. A giant stag becomes something of a metaphor for the dead princess, beautiful and yet ultimately tragic. In the end, just like the princess, it is in the wrong place at the wrong time and meets a bloody end.

Ultimately this film is far from the caustic attack on the royals I was expecting. The characters are played with attention and sympathy. I can't see that any would have much to complain about in their portrayal. In fact the biggest villains are seen to be the British people, who collectively lose their minds in a display of mass grief that is barely comprehensible. That they forced their stoic, dutiful Queen to grieve in public is one of the most reprehensible episodes in what is ultimately a tragic tale of a family playing out its differences in public and grieving in the only way they know how - in private.