After all the Oscar nominations for best costume, score, director, original screenplay and movie and Helen Mirrens's best actress winning performance as Queen Elizabeth II, I really wanted to see The Queen (2006) and having missed it at the cinema it was on our DVD rental list. But to my surprise ITV were showing the Stephen Frears directed film this evening to coincide with the 10th anniversary with the death of Princess Diana so I settled in to watch it.

All the way through the film you have references to traditional and protocol and how that had become out of step with the changing face of Britain. Everything that the Royal Family did during that week was in line with tradition, protocol and precendent and a sense that this was a private matter but was perceived to be cold and disrespectful by some members of the public and was hyped up by those who sought constitutional change. One of the things that upset the public was the lack of flag at half mast at Buckingham Palace out of respect. The fact that even if the Queen died the Royal Standard (which is the only flag flown at any royal residence when the Queen is there) would not be flown at half mast was not understood and was taken as a mark of disrespect to Diana. The fact that the Royal family were trying to look after the young princes and keep them out of the media spotlight at this time was overlooked in general by the press and some of the population. So all the way through we see how the extraordinary events and public opinion of this week started to chip away at precedent and protocol which had stood for hundreds of years and yet the saving grace was that it didn't really have to change that much to win public opinion back.

That said the performances were superb and you can see why Helen Mirren got her oscar. She was totally convincing as Queen Elizabeth II, as far as the public perception of the Queen goes. She shows the Queen's struggle between tradition and duty and her personal feelings as very much an internal struggle of conscience. On the one hand she is the Queen, not just by title but by her very being and yet she is still an individual capable of being moved and you always feel that she is trying to reconcile one with the other. Whether she is really like that is something we may never see entirely but as a portrayal this is as good as it gets. Well apart from Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. This was his second outing as Tony Blair and in a way his portrayal was harder to pull off as although a certain sense of mystery still surrounds the Queen, Blair, especially in the early years, was much more of an open book. He captured the sense of the modern, young prime minister and family man with a "normal" life who is trying to find his feet and wanting to help the Queen through this period of change (whether out of genuine or self interest remain to be seen). In fact the Queen and Blair do very well out of this film because of these portrayals and this is where the film works. Although this Granada production is essentially a dramatised documentary, these two actors lift it far above any other production in this genre.