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I felt compelled to finally see The Queen after it scooped the Best Film gong at the BAFTAs. That was just the latest of bucketloads of awards, mainly for Helen Mirren in the title role. Mirren's performance is indeed excellent, bringing a warmth and humanity to a part that as written could have been quite cold (the film mainly deals with the week after Diana's death, and the Queen is not shown in a very positive light). An overlooked member of the cast (at awards ceremonies) has been Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, who I thought was absolutely first-rate, and his part was almost as big as Mirren's. As Mirren does, Sheen captures the mannerisms of the real person while not going overboard with the imitation. Blair comes off very well in the film, but some other figures are not so lucky; Cherie Blair is portrayed as a stonehearted bitch, for example. Most of the characters manage to seem like real people rather than caricatures, which is a credit to both the script and the actors. Archive footage of actual TV news broadcasts is used quite a lot, conjuring memories of the actual event, and making the film feel more like a docudrama at points (not necessarily a bad thing). Partly due to this, I thought the music, composed by Alexandre Desplat, seemed a bit excessive and over-dramatic on occasions. In fact, to me an orchestral score wasn't really necessary as it overdid the sentiment a little. Generally I found The Queen to be a very good film that was just lacking in artistic flair. Stephen Frears' direction is fine but unremarkable (I'm not really sure why he's been nominated Best Director this year above several other more deserving candidates), and the film is carried by its superb central performances and engrossing historical setting.
The summary
The Queen is a unique look into the private lives of the Royal Family, featuring some superb performances. Well worth seeing.
