2006/PG-13/Drama
This movie supposedly chronicles the reactions and emotions that were present in the British government (specifically inside the Prime Minister's office and behind the Royal Family's closed doors) immediately following Princess Diana's death in 1997.
Had I known the plot synopsis prior to ordering this movie, I probably wouldn't have requested it. I, for one, never really understood the Diana worship that permeated both the US and the UK. And, while her death was tragic, it was the "love" of the public that encouraged the paparazzi to hound her which lead directly to her death.
My biggest difficulty with a film such as this as the viewer can be tempted to believe that what they are seeing is exactly what happened. This is the same complaint I have with movies like The Perfect Storm. We simply don't know what happened in the inner chambers of the palace. What we know is what they did and said publicly, the rest is speculation.
Having said that, I didn't particularly believe much of what was portrayed. Prince Charles was a wishy-washy momma's boy who was afraid to express his opinion and supposedly loved Diana very much. He basically spent the whole movie talking about what a great mother she was to her children. Way to be one-dimensional. As I mentioned in my Oscar's post, there is a new equation regarding what gets a little gold statue. While the Queen was a very layered character and mimicked to near perfection, her veiled dislike of the Princess (that translated into a dislike of her subjects who were mourning her passing) that was disguised in the utmost concern for her grandsons was difficult to believe.
The story began very slow. Once the conflict between the Prime Minister, the Queen, and the tabloids was fully established it proved to be too simple to carry the whole movie. The performances of Helen Mirren (Queen Elizabeth) and Michael Sheen (Tony Blair) definitely carried this character driven drama, but were not strong enough to overcome the lack of story.
The Princes were noticeably absent and the Prince Philip was noticeably obnoxious. Overall, the movie had some interesting things to say regarding the disconnect between a Monarch and her subjects, the Monarchy and it's government, and the mindsets of the Royal Family and the modern day governed. This film raises the question "Can a Monarchy survive in the twenty-first century?" and leaves it up to the audience to answer.
2 out of 5 stars
2 comments:
Truth be told, I was the one who added this movie to our queue; however, it was mostly because I was trying to come up with the title for the sequel to "Elizabeth"! Oh well. When Princess Diana died, the thing I remember being struck by was how her boys had to go out and comfort the British people. It seemed so wrong to me.
I appreciate that the movie asked us to toss aside all of the notions we have about the royal family and think about them as just people. "Maybe it was like this..." But honestly, most of it I found hard to believe. Prince Philip and Prince Charles were just annoying. Gorgeous Prince William was barely even IN the movie. Tony Blair's wife was...I don't have a good word. I definitely thought Helen Mirren did a great job as the queen, and I appreciated her struggle. But her 'prophetic' comments at the end about the British people turning on Tony Blair? Yuck.
Probably the one thing I really appreciated about the movie was that they asked us to consider the fact that the royal family and the public viewed different sides of Diana. In the same way, all our ideas about who that family is, comes filtered through the media's lens. A good thing to remember about ANYONE in the public eye.
It is entirely possible that I've already commented on the "Wild Card" but I think the heat of the desert (100*) must be clouding my memory. Anyway...congrats! How fun!!
I hope you're both well...
Jenna
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