The Queen (2006)

DVD, East Earle, PA

July 28, 2007

* 1/2 / ****

This movie is ridiculous. Telling the tale of the British royal family during the immediate days before and after Princess Diana’s death, The Queen demonizes the royal family members as arrogant, heartless, conceited bastards without a shred of dignity, class, or sympathy. It is one thing to look out for one’s self, another to do so without even the slightest regard for anyone or anything else and the latter is the treatment given the royals in this over-the-top outing. In choosing such a horrid light, The Queen paints an unfair and I can only imagine unrealistic and very unflattering picture of everyone involved, that is, of course, everyone except Diana who, for reasons I still do not understand, is beloved by everyone around the world.

Much has been made of Helen Mirren’s performance as Queen Elizabeth in this film. She has won many awards and been praised for her authenticity and ability to completely immerse herself in the performance. Fine and good, I say, but with a script that paints merely one side of the Queen, and in this case so coldly rotten, clueless, and inept, I’m not buying the performance as one that transcends into something more than was already described on the printed script. Adding additional layers to a character that goes beyond the script is my idea of an exceptional performance and I didn’t see it here. Rather, Mirren holds her head high, grimaces, lifts her nose, and roundly scolds everyone around her for failing to understand royal decree. Ho-hum.

What really gets me though, is how the film introduces Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) and newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) as secondary characters and then like the Queen shows very little of their personalities save the most obvious and simplistic characterizations. Charles is presented as a sniveling simp who says little, does even less, and seems to have very little idea of himself as either a member of the royal family or a regular human being. Blair, in contrast, is merely a foil to the Queen’s arrogance and a populist mouthpiece who continuously raises oversized placards to the audience signifying that the idea of carrying on a royal family is silly but one that can never, ever be disintegrated, at least not in Britain. Interesting ideas, again, but ones that sadly go nowhere and leave us wondering why more interesting tangents are never taken.

Curiously, it is Blair and Charles who are the most interesting characters mostly because they are potentially in the most interesting positions during all the Diana hub-bub. A pity that the Queen is the focus here when so little is illuminated about her while these two enigmas are left languishing in a sea of unanswered questions and a potentially very interesting story.

Regardless of the story I’d prefer to see, the story we do see is lousy and condescending. All looks nice and official and never once do we question the authenticity present on screen. That is, until the characters open their mouths and utter absurdity ensues. I suggest skipping The Queen altogether. There are surely more informative and expansive movies out there on the topic and many of those certainly aren’t as grossly unfair in their characterizations as this dud