Stephen Frears, director of Dangerous Liaisons and High Fidelity, brings us a look at the interaction between Queen Elizabeth II and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The interaction is framed after the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and focuses primarily on the way in which the death was handled by the Royal Family. The Queen is an intimate film that delves into the struggle of Queen Elizabeth II to find a compromise between her traditional ways and what the public wants to see. It is a film about modernism as much as it is a film about the death of Princess Diana and it is a film that recognizes and points questions at the role of the Royal Family in society as a whole.
The film stars the excellent Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. She delves into the role with reckless abandon, having planned British Royalty two other times in her career. Mirren is a treat to watch here, as she brings coldness and warmth all at once. The Queen is a film about change, so it is Mirren’s job to exemplify that change. She does so, not as something hasty or evident or even comprehensible. No, Mirren’s transformation of Queen Elizabeth II is not so much a transformation as it is a concession to the demands of the public. When Mirren’s Queen mourns, she mourns because she is instructed to mourn. Her preference is, instead, to do things “quietly and properly.” This belies the hushed uprightness and traditional veracity of the Royal Family in an intellectual and pragmatic way.
The Queen opens with Mirren’s face as she prepares to be seen. We are introduced to the Queen with a sort of poignancy, as we enter a situation in which the Queen finds herself torn. Tony Blair, played here wonderfully by Michael Sheen, has just been elected as prime minister and the times are changing in the Britain after the time of political Thatcherism. Britain stood on the brink of tentative and foreseeable political change, leaving the Royal Family unsure as well. As this new future collides with the past in the form of the Monarchs, Frears film elects to frame it with an event that is arguably even more multifarious and convoluted: the death of Princess Diana.
The beauty of The Queen is in the details and in the little emotional touches that the film brings to the forefront in a very trying time. Within months of Blair’s introduction as prime minister and after a few awkward meetings between the Queen and Blair, the sudden death of the Princess takes place and Britain is cast into chaos. What occurs next in Frears’ film is a little bit like a balancing act between two passions. On one hand, Queen Elizabeth II and the other Royals are staunch in terms of keeping their grief and their feelings on the matter of Princess Diana private and away from the public eye. On the other hand, however, the public very much appears to want a demonstration of sympathy and commiseration for the “People’s Princess.”
Frears builds his film in small ways and strays from obvious ideas, thankfully. The Queen takes place within a series of small instances and meetings between its incredible characters. The grandness of it all is within the details, as Mirren and Sheen’s interactions are tepid and forced within the context of the resolutions floating around the two characters. We are given a glimpse into the Royal Family and into the family of the prime minister and, as a result, are shown lifestyles with glaring similarities. Both households are alarmingly blunt, for instance, and nothing is hidden from view in terms of how a person feels or what a person thinks. The Royals, especially Philip (James Cromwell), bicker and prattle on about the life of Princess Diana and her “rejection” of what they had to offer her as a Royal. The Blairs bicker and prattle on about the Queen’s decision-making process and her icy resolve to keep this public matter private. It is an interesting dichotomy and a thrill to watch.
The Queen is a superbly directed, gracefully written, and massively acted film. Mirren is astounding as the Queen, as she plays her with a sympathetic yet realistic tone. She is, at once, icy and compassionate. She is perhaps stuck in the past, but she is also very much a modern woman. With Mirren’s portrayal, the Queen is displayed with implication and connotation and not with palpable gushing. It is because of Mirren’s interpretation that we wonder if the Queen is doing the right thing or the wrong thing by allowing the funeral. It is because of Mirren’s portrayal that The Queen is a marvellous, commanding, and gripping film.
8.5/10
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