The Queen
Christine May 9th, 2007
While over in Bozeman we watched The Queen on our son’s borrowed laptop while hanging out in the Scamp. I remember Diana’s wedding taking place shortly after I had returned from living two years in Europe. I had just been in England a few months before the wedding and it was the event everyone was talking about that year. I was a romantic and Diana was born the same year I was. She was a real princess at barely 20. So I ended up watching the wedding on TV that July in 1981. I never followed any of the goop on Diana’s life but I do remember her wedding.
Matthew and I both felt the acting in The Queen was very well done but considered it just a little strange they should be making a big film while the two main characters are still acting heads of the English government. That was a fairly brazen thing to do, and in some way I believe it detracted from the strength of the story they were trying to tell. I kept thinking that it might be all so much projection on the part of the director. Some of the situations they presented were not exactly convincing, but what do I know of how royalty goes about their private business? And indeed, how does anyone especially the director Stephen Frear? It would be interesting to know how they researched these parts.
All that said, we still enjoyed the film although I wouldn’t give it all stars. Helen Mirren did a fine job portraying Queen Elizabeth, indeed I’ve read that it was an impeccable performance down to the curl of the lip (my words). The real living and breathing Queen might have a few things to say about it. Humorously, the image of the Queen actually watching herself in the film made me chuckle more than once. That must have been a weird experience for Mirren. I did admire the fact that they tastefully kept Diana’s young sons pretty much in the background. One character I thought rather distasteful was Prince Philip played by James Cromwell. For all I know the only reason they made Prince Philip look like such a dweeb is that they needed a villain on the side. Still, I was kept interested until the end and some parts were quite moving while the tension at times was very believable. One comment from a Times movie review critic sums it up well:
“Stephen Frears’ sublimely nimble evisceration of the British royal family pries open a window in the House of Windsor around the time of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.” Pries open the window yes, enough perhaps to taste the sherry.
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I haven’t seen it yet. My daughter and I watched the wedding, too. Wow, was that a long time ago. I always admired Diana, and wish she had had a happier life.