Review of The Queen (2006) by Ben L — 12 Jun 2017

Helen Mirren is fabulous, so it is a logical fit for her to portray The Queen. Her performance throughout the film is dignified and powerful, exactly what it needed to be. I also thought Michael Sheen was wonderful as Tony Blair, because his youthful and informal demeanor was a great contrast to Mirren.

It?s just a shame that this is the movie they were given. I think eventually I understood the logic of having the entire film centered around the death of Princess Diana, but I wonder if they could have done something better if they selected a different period of history.

Huge chunks of the movie are devoted to showing how the nation was turning against the royal family because of the choices they were making at the time. We get to see behind the curtain and so we?re intended to take the Queen?s side in these matters, but I couldn?t help feeling that the movie was making a stronger case that she was in the wrong.

Later in the film, in what I can only describe as a hail-mary of desperation to get us to empathize with the Queen, they have Tony Blair make a total 180 and turn into a fan-boy who takes her side in everything.

It crops up out of nowhere, and despite their attempts to justify it, I found it jarring. Perhaps if I were more in tune with British politics and culture I would find The Queen a more impactful film, but I thought it was a poor story propped up by 2 great performances.