Fourth Citizen:
You have been a scourge to her enemies, you have
been a rod to her friends; you have not indeed loved
the common people.
Coriolanus:
You should account me the more virtuous that I have
not been common in my love.
--Shakespeare, Coriolanus II:3
The Queen briskly illustrates the contrasting reactions of recently elected Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) and Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) to Princess Diana's 31 August 1997 death in a car crash in Paris. The Queen sees it as a private family matter and, since she loathed Diana anyway, does not feel called upon to interrupt the family's vacation residence at Balmoral Castle, make a public statement, or, contrary to custom, fly a flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace. Elizabeth's first concern is for Diana's boys, who are, of course, her grandsons as well as potential successors to the throne.
Elizabeth does not grasp the significance of Diana's popularity with "her" subjects. In fact, the Princess's mediagenic quality is one of the reasons Elizabeth disliked her, because she deemed it inappropriate, infra dignitatem for an "HRH." Elizabeth believes that the English public in 1997 still values what they valued during World War II: the suppression of emotion in the performance of duty.
Tony Blair, by contrast, emphatically gets that Diana's popularity alone demands a response from the royals, and the movie is a touchy negotiation, mostly by telephone, between allegorical figures of the new way and the old. Sheen and Mirren are admirable performers, but the movie stops short of full-blown naturalism, irony, or romance, so there's no basis for them to exceed what screenwriter Peter Morgan has written.
The Queen takes what we've all heard about the interaction of the parliamentarian and his sovereign and stages it with tasteful directness, but I didn't come away feeling I had been granted any greater access than mere presence at these behind-the-scenes vignettes. The movie does not elaborate the characters, and Mirren thus doesn't get the opportunity to do with Elizabeth II what Bette Davis and Glenda Jackson did with Elizabeth I, i.e., give individual range and volume to the historical figure. (Nor did Mirren join their ranks in the recent TV movie Elizabeth I, which dramatized historical events as if they were episodes in a soap opera, and featured generally Elizabethan-sounding dialogue that helplessly made the show more, rather than less, camp.) Mirren's Elizabeth II isn't a star performance, it's a star disappearing act, the movie equivalent of a Cindy Sherman photo (minus the anti-glamorizing sense of estrangement, of course).
Article comments
1 - Karen
I saw this film last night ---I thought that the acting was very poor --- with the exception of Helen Mirium who did manage to play the part of the Queen quite well...I thought that the person playing Charles was terrible as was the person who played the Duke of Edinburgh --- as well as the Queen Mum ---- the person who played Tony Blair a better job...I DID NOT like the part with the Stag being killed -- I felt that this part was in really bad taste....I would not recommend any one seeing this film at all --- total was of momey
2 - Alan Dale
Thanks for the comment, Karen. I'm really curious why you consider the death of the stag to be in "really bad taste."
3 - Michael
I enjoyed your thoughtful review but find that I disagree. I found this film to be excellent. I do however, understand how it may loose some people. This film is subtle and nuanced. I found many levels of communication and great attention to detail. Portrayal of Royalty under duress is a popular though hackneyed story telling device. Jaded film pundits busy comparing this story with other films could miss it's unique delicacy. In a land with royalty still involved in the running of the government much is conveyed by ritual. Encoded upon the carrier wave of etiquette, vital communication is often by innuendo. This film ushered the viewer into that world and even gave us the rules of deportment. The dialog between Tony Blair and the queen was the crux of the film for me. Brilliantly underplayed by both actors. Helen Mirren's performance as Queen Elizabeth II is nothing less than a masterpiece. Perhaps that is why she won the Oscar. This film won 53 awards and had another 44 nominations.