Helen Mirren stars as modern day Queen Elizabeth II in this imagined re-creation of one week in the lives of the Royals, the week in which Princess Diana was killed in France. Interviews with Helen Mirren, during and after filming, quoted her as saying that, after exploring the Queen's life, and acting the part, she came to love her.
Forearmed with this thespian vote of confidence I also expected to be won over. The film is hard to categorize because it appears to contain real events, cut with what can only be fictional conversations between the Blairs at home, and the Royals at home. Seen as a fiction it is not clear what it intends to convey. If it purports to be fact, which it cannot be as these conversations took place in private rooms, then its conclusion is also unclear.
We see the Royal family at Balmoral, with a caricatured Prince Phillip, being predictably rude and short-tempered, The Queen appears completely out of touch with the modern world, and without any inkling of an understanding of human emotions. There is the slightest sense of her having sacrificed her emotional and personal life to the greater cause of being sovereign of this tiny island and the modern viewer can only wonder at it. Having said that, there does seem to be another sense of admiration for such a strong feeling of belief in the divinity ascribed to heads of state, such that to deny it would be sacrilegious.
Prince Charles is portrayed in a flattering way, as a man with sensitivity and a strong, decent streak, and he alone shows a respectful attitude towards Diana's memory and body which makes the lack of it in the rest of the cast all the more shocking. Michael Sheen does his best to portray Tony Blair, but cannot help reminding of 'Dead Ringers' and the two young princes are only seen fleetingly from behind, getting into Landrovers, or through their bedroom door. This contributes a curious mystique to their characters which is inexplicable. Coming out of the cinema leaves one strangely dissatisfied, knowing we have seen a fiction, yet wanting to have an understanding which will always be denied by this most secretive of institutions. I didn't leave loving the Queen, but nor do I envy her. I very much respect her patriotic beliefs and commend her for upholding them, against all odds. She remains frozen in time, as Queen Victoria did, standing for something unchangeable whilst, all around, the world changes irrevocably. Saddening in so many ways.
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