Review of Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) by Stuart K — 28 Apr 2014

Directed by Roger Michell (Notting Hill (1999), Changing Lanes (2002) and Venus (2006)) and written by playwright Richard Nelson. This started out life as a play on BBC Radio 4, and was inspired after Nelson had met Daisy Suckley, and then read her diaries, journals and letters after her death in 1991.

It makes for a good period comedy-drama, but it paints an unflattering picture of it's lead character. In the spring of 1939, Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney) visits her cousin, who is American President Franklin D.

Roosevelt (Bill Murray), at the house of Roosevelt's mother Sara Delano (Elizabeth Wilson), known as Hyde Park in upstate New York. Daisy and Franklin form a close relationship, mainly because they haven't seen each other for a while.

Meanwhile, Hyde Park is to play host to King George VI (Samuel West) and his wife Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman). King George believes the trip to America will help strengthen bonds with Britain, especially as there could be a potential war with Germany happening soon, meanwhile Franklin and Daisy's relationship grows.

Parts of this feel a bit like a Robert Altman film, with the almost carefree staging and overlapping dialogue, it's a film which cares about it's characters, and there's some very good performances on display, (Murray does well as FDR), but the film feels quite cold at it's core, and there's nothing to really drive the whole show along.