Helen Mirren morphs into the role perfectly and triumphantly

 There’s an uncanny quality to watching on screen the lives of people alive. What of matters of accuracy, historically, and in regards to people becoming characters in a story based on reality less than a decade ago? What could be said to the filmmakers by those portrayed? How does the viewer contain such information on the screen?

  When it comes to privacy, The Queen keeps us at a distance while letting us into some of the emotion and politics behind royalty.

  The Queen chronicles the week of media frenzy over Princess Diana’s death leading to her funeral. It also portrays British Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) as an ambitious publicity hungry man, seeking to turn England into a republic. He becomes as a man weak on conviction, which somewhat colours him black.

  Queen Elizabeth (Helen Mirren) is criticised for her lack of remorse over Diana’s death. The deceptively stoic Queen does some soul searching, and she and the royal family have to come to terms with their waning popularity in the public’s eyes, and speculations over the genuineness of their family ties, including the presence of a non-royal in the ranks, namely Diana, which is lovingly crafted into a metaphor.

  Queen Elizabeth is portrayed as a thoughtful, gracious, and charming queen, nevertheless, one who accepts the title, not begrudgingly, but graciously as a God-given privilege.

  Director Stephen Frears (Mrs Henderson Presents, High Fidelity) hits the right note in conveying the shades of difference between the media story of Diana and the royals (inserting stock footage) and what is said behind the scenes.

  Frears has the good sense to let the camera shy away from intense emotional moments, such as Prince Charles looking on at Diana in the coffin and the Queen’s rare show of emotion during solitude. This serves to underline the illusion of distance between royalty and the public, which is what we expect, yet still humanises the events and people of the week of Diana’s death effectively enough.  

  As well, it engages, sometimes comically, always good-naturedly, in its sympathy for Queen Elizabeth. Helen Mirren morphs into the role perfectly and triumphantly in appearances and manner, the movie’s highlight. James Cromwell (Babe) as husband Prince Phillip convincingly sheds the skin of his altar ego.

  Tony Blair and wife are played as lesser mortals in this movie, creating uncomfortable caricatures; The Queen doesn’t mud rake, too much, tabloid sensationalism style, it has a depth of character and script that those papers no where near manage. There is a dulling streak of dramatic melancholia, however, but it works all very decently and agreeably.

Still and enigma
Victoria Alexander: FilmsinReview
I was bored. Still an enigma, Queen Elizabeth had no character "arc."....more

A cautious, earnestly factual and emotionally unassailable film
Robert W. Butler: Kansas City Star
Mirren delivers a brilliant performance, one that jibes effortlessly with the public figure we've been watching for more than 50 years while plumbing depths we've never been privy to...more