Several days ago, I watched the DVD of "The Queen" with Helen Mirren. I live in the movie boonies, and only the most popular movies play at my local cineplex, so I am often forced into home viewing.
It was wonderful. Helen Mirren did not play Queen Elizabeth; she was Queen Elizabeth. The actors who played Tony Blair and Prince Philip were excellent, the one picking up especially on Blair's perkiness and the other on Philip's dour sarcasm. I don't know much about Cherie Blair's personality, but the actress who took her part was quite good. I thought that two who played Charles and the Queen Mum were not quite so believable.
Mirren is a joy to watch. Whatever the role, she is always first-rate.
I did not know beforehand that the whole film was based on the period immediately preceding and in the aftermath of Diana's death. Scenes from real life were interspersed with movie scenes. I remember the world-wide grief, the sea of flowers in front of Buckingham palace. I remember the dismay of the English people that the royal family remained at Balmoral, that the queen made no statement, and that the flag at Buckingham Palace was not flown at half-mast. Finally, after a raft of nasty headlines in the tabloids and then in the mainstream press, Blair convinced the family to go down to London, and the queen made a statement.
The film included the real-life eulogy given by Diana's brother, Charles, the Earl of Spencer, which included these words:
Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity, a standard-bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who -- who transcended nationality, someone with a natural nobility who was classless, and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.
Diana had been stripped of her HRH title when she and Charles divorced.
The movie was altogether an enjoyable experience.
Irony will out. My favorite dialogue from the movie are these words which may not be an exact quote, but are as close as I could remember. The queen's aide is escorting her to her first meeting with Blair after his election, and he is filling her in a little on Blair's background.
Aide: On the one hand, his background is quite Establishment, father a
Conservative, educated at Fettes, where he was tutored by the same man as
the Prince of Wales.
Queen: Well, we'll try not to hold that against him.
I loved this movie - one of the few I saw on the big screen. Our local theater has bad sound and the movies often show either when I am not able to go or when I can go - show something I am not interested in. In an odd way The Queen gave me some insight into Rowan Williams behavior. Helen Mirren is always great.
ReplyDeleteI recently saw "The Queen" at home, which was a welcome change to my husband as I usually get foreign sub-titled films to watch. Helen Mirren was wonderful. I felt like I learned so much about that time in England and also about Tony Blair's personality.
ReplyDeleteI shall Netflix this immediately. (I never get to the movies; it's pathetic.) Helen Mirren is a force to be reckoned with, no?
ReplyDeleteIf you should get bored today, Grandmère Mimi, stop by for some of this.
:)
I so knew you would be a Helen Mirren fan; Mimi, you are outed.
ReplyDeleteNot yet allowed myself this treat, nor been able to think of my gallant Jane's passing: worn to addiction by the relentless Patriarchy. It's why Godde invented DVDs, I'm sure.
Still adore her and Rigg in Midsummer Night's Dream, last seen Godde knows.
I am a fan of Mirren in the true sense of the word - fanatic. I hate that there will be no new Jane Tennison stories.
ReplyDeleteAnn, if you don't mind my asking, what insight into Rowan did the movie give you?
Johnieb, so many secrets of my life have been outed that, by now, I must be transparent.
Oh, Mimi! Did the woman behind Mirren in the picture play the queen mother? That is Mollie Sugden. She played Mrs. Slocum in the "Are you being served?" series. I've never seen her in anything else. Her big line in the series was to have a tirade about something and then say "And I am unanimous in this!"
ReplyDeleteApropo of nothing on this post except it is about the Queen, I leave for England tomorrow with the choir. Pray for my knees, as I will be sitting in steerage on a US Air plane behind a complete stranger who will prolley want to put the seat back in my face as soon as possible! Oh well, the vagaries of being tall and fat are many.....
Susan, of course! I did not recognize her. She was the Queen Mum.
ReplyDeleteOn reflection, I believe that she may not have seemed like her, because I remember the QM always wearing a hat. And I always thought of her as having more style about her than her daughter. Sugden looked frumpy in the film.
I will pray for you on the flight. Oh, those people who immediately pop their seats back as far as possible, as soon as possible! And some of them leave them back even when food is served.
You will make it, and you will sing beautifully and give glory to God, once you're in England. I'm jealous. But not of the flight.
God bless all of you on your trip, and may he keep you safe and well.
THERE WILL BE NO NEW JANE TENNISEN STORIES?????????????????
ReplyDeleteO. M. G.
Somebody get me a fainting couch.
What did I miss? Did they kill her? (Ratsafratsin kids and Nickelodeon on all the ratsafratsin time).
Why?
I need smelling salts...
Eileen, here are the smelling salts.
ReplyDeleteNo, she didn't die; she retired.
They say Prime Suspect 7 was the final of the series, but we can hope. Perhaps there will be a case that no one else can solve.