14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
Member since:02.06.2007
Reviews:180
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In the wake of the tenth anniversary of Diana's death, ITV choose the top time to show the drama depicting the relationship between The Queen and Tony Blair in August 1997. It is needless to say that is is quite surprising that we can already be watching the television premiere of a 2006 movie, and I expect the buckets of money were aplenty when it came to ITV getting the rights to air this movie, and other channels were forced to fight it out in hopes of getting some slice of the ratings, and this worked out by pretty much every channel putting on a movie. I guess the viewer is the only person that really wins.
The attention drawn towards this film is all thanks to that of Helen Mirren, who plays the infamous role of The Queen, and I can only imagine what being handed a role such as that does to ones self - if I'm going to write this review like a member of the monachy. What struck me about this film about ten minutes through was how incredibly Diana based it was, as I was expecting a movie that stretched from '97 to this new millennium, instead the movie is entirely based around the 'week that the Queen shall always be remembered for'. Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) is brought into
power as the movie begins, and might I just say that the likeness is uncanny, and with this it means that the new Primeminister shall be visiting Buckingham Palace for his first meeting with the Queen one-on-one. Cherie Blair (Helen McCroy) also attends, and there is a general aura of how the relationship between the government and the royals is not going to be a pretty one. For a likeness in Cherie they have pretty much just slapped a load of lipstick on her, and given her a make-up look that one might associate with a clown.
Of course this is based on real facts, apparently, so it's not long before the big story of the movie takes place and that is one night in Paris. The way in which they recreated the death of Princess Diana was very dramatic, but they spared themselves from making it too much of a tearjerker by the way that they never showed them entering the tunnel nor did they ever have an actress to play Diana. Throughout the movie there was a lot of clips of old news broadcasts and the such, which was very fitting to see for those that want to remember just what happened those ten years ago. To me the death of Diana is just an eight year olds experience, but I know it's something that even got my mum emotional just as the clips on the movie show many people shook by the death. To this day there is still a huge interest in what actually happened for Diana to finish like this, and I guess that is why The Queen was made with such a heavy infulence on the story. What I also liked about the movie was how they did show some clips from America, and with clips from CNN hopefully that drew in the American audiance as I would love for them to get a true taster of how big of a star Diana was over here. I'm not sure if they ever really got that, maybe someone can tell me.
Do we all remember where we were when Diana died? Well I remember being there in the early morning (well, like 8am) when my parents were told and they turned on ceefax to see it in the big headline (I'm presuming this was the days before Sky News was in my house). The Queen shows one of her servants entering her bedroom to tell her of the accident, and then the eventual news. Prince Phillip (James Cromwell) is the hard voice, matching that of the hard exterior of the Queen, by not failing to air the comment that the Queen's sister made of Diana being, "more annoying dead than alive," Now, this is where I wonder where they truly got their facts from, and there are moments in this movie where you wonder if they knew this is truly what happened or if they are just trying to make things worse for the institution that is the Royal Family. The Queen Mother (Sylvia Syms) and Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) complete the family, and they come off almost as a comedy family that you could see on a television sitcom. You cannot complain about anyway in which this movie is acted out though, because each and every actor/actress is at the top of their game.
With public hatred towards the Royal Family, we see the story of how Tony Blair tries to interfere to change things. The movie does show many good points about the Royals, but I presume that most of them shall go forgotten. I'm not a big fan of having Royals in our country, I have never really understood the purpose of having people sitting around in big castles, however I do not believe that their behavior in the tragic moments of Diana's death are reason enough to hate them. Who has blood on their hands for Diana's death? Whilst it does come off as quite a strange movie by the end of it, the way it has been put together will make you both laugh and cry. My mum felt the timing was unsuitable in that it was all a bit much, however you can't argue with it being a time to show the movie at its highest interest. From the planning of the funeral with 'homosexuals singing' this movie does have it all, and a movie that I really didn't think I would like - because I pretty much hate every other programme about them - took me by surprise. Some of you may remember a review I did on the movie Ray, which was based on real life facts. That took me by surprise and The Queen is up there quality wise, and goes to show that true movies (I guess I should use that term loosely) really do make the best ones. The Queen carries a 12 certificate and runs for around 100 minutes.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2003 - Drama - Director: Michael Winterbottom - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Jeanne Balibar
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Great review, thanks. I've seen the film too and thought it was excellent mainly because of the acting. Helen Mirren was superb, of course. However, I believe there are several inaccuracies in the film. There is no way that Tony Blair wouldn't have known the correct protocol on his first visit to the Palace. He's a well-educated and intelligent man - whatever you think of his policies. There were other little niggles too, but it's a good film and one i would recommend people to see.
matthewsmum 04.09.2007 21:39
I do think the royals lost a lot of fans at the time of Diana's death. I have seen this film though and although I am not a royalist, I did enjoy it. Well reviewed. I think one of the funniest characters was Prince Philip, though I'm not sure that was the intention lol! Carol x
LADYFUCHSIA 04.09.2007 21:07
Very good review, I've not seen this yet but it sounds good
Following the death of Diana the 'People's Princess', the Queen (Helen Mirren) and her ... more
family remain hidden behind tradition and the closed doors of Balmoral Castle. whilst the heartbroken public becomes disillusioned with their Queen's absence, an inc...
![The Queen [DVD] [2006]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78135622.jpg "The Queen [DVD] [2006]")
Sep 3rd, 2007
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