CNS Movie Review: The Queen

The Queen

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Whatever one's opinion of Princess Diana, the erstwhile Princess of Wales, news of her death in a horrific Paris car accident in 1997 -- which may have been caused by voracious paparazzi in merciless pursuit -- held the public in thrall.

"The Queen" (Miramax) proves an absorbing British drama about how, during that period, new Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), keenly aware of the PR implications, tried to convince Queen Elizabeth (Helen Mirren) to address the public about her former daughter-in-law, as the nation grieved and speculated on the royal silence.

Elizabeth and her consort, Prince Philip (James Cromwell), are shown to be rattled by the death, but entrenched in their own sense of protocol, and loath to make a public statement. Philip, in particular, is shown to be far more concerned about hunting. The family has taken isolated refuge at their Balmoral estate in Scotland.

Stephen Frears directs beautifully, and even if Peter Morgan's script is mostly speculative, what we see on-screen plays convincingly, just as anyone who followed the proceedings at the time might have imagined.

Mirren's crusty yet vulnerable impersonation tempers the anti-monarchist tone of the screenplay, though she is at first drawn as cold and aloof. Even son Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) seems cowed by her, as when she at first discourages him from flying to France in their private jet.

But as Elizabeth fends off increasingly urgent calls from Blair urging her to give her subjects solace, and watches Diana's final interview with grim fascination, Mirren touchingly delineates the queen's dramatic turnabout.

What finally loosens her is an encounter with a beautiful stag while driving through her vast estate. Elizabeth feels a sense of kinship to the animal, and its subsequent death softens her to the public's grief as nothing had before. And, by the way, the skill Elizabeth displays driving through the wood sans chauffeur may come as quite a surprise.

Sheen is less a physical dead ringer for Blair than Mirren is for Elizabeth, but he captures the prime minister's puppy-dog enthusiasm perfectly. Helen McCrory plays his pragmatic wife, Cherie, and there's exemplary work from Roger Allam as Sir Robin Janvrin, the queen's deputy private secretary, and Sylvia Syms as the even more tradition-bound Queen Mother.

Morgan and Frears are to be credited for the discretion with which they portray Diana's death -- we see her car striking out on her fatal journey -- but nothing of the crash itself. Also suggested but not shown are Prince Charles informing his sons of the accident and viewing Diana's body.

At one point, mention is made of the "private" versus "public" Diana, the former perhaps quite different from what the adoring public might have imagined. Without knowing precisely what transpired behind closed doors -- tell-all biographies notwithstanding -- it is perhaps unfair to judge the actions of the queen based on this fictionalized telling.

Nonetheless, as a fascinating chronicle of conflict between time-honored tradition and the encroachment of modernity, as exemplified by Blair, "The Queen" makes compelling drama of a high order.

The film contains a couple of instances of mild profanity and a few crass expressions. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

END

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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