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The QueenDirector: Stephen Frears’ It may be slow moving, but Stephen Frears’ The Queen is rewarding and unexpectedly amusing. Frears provides an introspective portrait of one of the world’s most public figures during a time of personal and political turmoil, namely the death of Princess Diana of Wales. This film examines the crisis of conscience for Queen Elizabeth II as she struggles between her public and private roles, as a monarch and a grandmother. This is the first film to truly examine the stoic Queen as a real figure, beyond the tradition and pompousness. Helen Mirren is exemplary as she portrays the character beyond the icon, who faces the growing malaise of the public and increasing pressure by the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to break tradition.
The narrative follows the royal family in the week following Princess Diana’s death, and is interwoven with archival footage of ‘the people’s Princess’ and the public mourning of her death. This chaos is contrasted with the private musings of the Queen and her family inside the walled serenity of Hollyrood. The Queen’s reluctance to make a public statement expressing loss is the instrument for examining a greater theme of repression, royalty and the institution of the British ‘stiff upper lip’. This film has some great performances, but it is Mirren’s portrayal (for which she rightly won an Oscar), that is essential in breaking down the façade and humanising an untouchable character. Verbatim: In a word: Remarkable Wife-o-metre: 3
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