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Well, this weblog rapidly becomes a movie review site! As indicated earlier, I went to see The Queen tonight. I am glad I did, because I seriously doubt that it will be shown in Basle. It is rather, erm, English after all.
Nonetheless, it is a phenomenal film - I don't have a single complaint about it. It is high drama based on recent history, executed with the acutest care for detail imaginable, incredible casting as well as acting (dare one say Oscar?) - and yet, the movie breathes a quiet air of subdued energy & moderation. If that sounds contradictory, then it's very well, because tension is at the heart of the matter. It is all about the tension between the institution of monarchy and the person holding that position during a defining moment. And incidentally, it is about to become an epitaph for Mr Blair's time as Prime Minister, the greatest achievement of which it will have been - apart from having civilised Labour - to have been instrumental in securing the survival of the British monarchy.
2 comments:
Took this in on Friday evening and, like you, enjoyed it. Although a rather slight movie in some ways that betrays its made-for-TV origins, it does come across as notably more sympathetic towards HRH than I'd expect from Frears and Morgan. It reminds me of how very strange that week was back in 1997 when Britain's uptight emotions were released over the death of a manipulated, manipulative woman. Odd times - my memory of the funeral is being in the accident room of my local hospital, along with only two other patients. Shows how many people really need those services.
There were a few chortles in the cinema regarding the Blair-Brown relationship and you might like to know the screenwriter also wrote 'The Deal' - worth looking out for, Chris.
Didn't you think some of the other characters - the Queen Mother, Alastair Campbell - were rather charactertured?
Charactertured? The character caricatured? Or tortured?
Either way, I didn't have that impression, no.
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