Review of The Queen (2006) by Lewis — 30 Sep 2006

If you like "By-the-numbers", Made for TV movies, this should be your thing. The film is a very unflattering portrait of Queen Elizabeth and is only good at showing one side of her character.

I've read a lot about the Queen and the screenwriters failed to show her wit and sense of humor. Had they done that, it would have humanized her to the point where we could have believed in her character.

There are a few scenes that seem 'thrown in' to make The Queen appear to be human but they feel like an afterthought (e.g. the scene where she cries a bit while watching a moose and her confession at the end where she admits that perhaps she might have misread the mood of the people).

There's no back-story here and the deck is completely stacked against the Royals, vis-à-vis Diana. Perhaps if we saw a little of the negative side of Diana, that might provide a context for their indifference to her death.

Why couldn't they get an actor who looks like Charles? He was just all wrong for the part--the only main character that didn't fit in. The actor who plays Tony Blair did a reasonable impersonation but we find out little about him except that he is a strong supporter of the Monarchy.

Prince Philip's lines probably were the most interesting but he's also presented too much as a cold fish. Finally Helen Mirren is good at showing the 'tough' side of The Queen but is limited by the screenwriter's poorly balanced vision.