by Allan Fish
(UK 2010 118m) DVD1/2
To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
p Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin d Tom Hooper w David Seidler ph Danny Cohen ed Tariq Anwar m Alexandre Desplat art Eve Stewart cos Jenny Beavan
Colin Firth (George VI), Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth), Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue), Michael Gambon (George V), Guy Pearce (Edward VIII), Derek Jacobi (Archbishop Cosmo Lang), Jennifer Ehle (Myrtle Logue), Claire Bloom (Queen Mary), Timothy Spall (Winston Churchill), Anthony Andrews (Stanley Baldwin),
It’s only fair that this entry begins with an admission; I didn’t expect much from The King’s Speech. Oh, I expected technical excellence and the strong directorial control that Tom Hooper brought to those TV successes Elizabeth I, Longford and John Adams. And of course I knew the performances would be exceptional, as the work of Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Samantha Morton, Andy Serkis, Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson and David Morse will testify (and Michael Sheen, whose Brian Clough impersonation in Hooper’s The Damned United must be added). And note the two names book-ending that roll call, for it was another film to whom I expected The King’s Speech to be compared the most, one written by Hooper’s Longford and Damned collaborator Peter Morgan; Stephen Frears’ The Queen. I admired that film, but found it Oscar bait, designed to win awards and cash in the popularity of any sort of peep behind closed doors at the royal family. Tom Hooper’s film is, I’m not ashamed to admit, very much its superior.
The King in question, of course, is Helen Mirren’s Queen’s father, George VI, and the speech in question is the first given by George as king announcing his country and empire’s taking a stand against Nazism. In actuality, it was the third king’s speech we hear in the film and the second to come from George after his disastrous attempt in his only previous public speech in 1925, where his stammer, a handicap since childhood, showcased a potential problem. Needless to say, when his elder brother does what we know he does, it’s only a matter of time before George is left to stand in front of the microphone. The king’s voice must be heard to represent his people, and where doctors have failed, an unqualified would-be actor from Australia would succeed. (more…)