writhaus

I’ve enjoyed my two trips to Britain. On the first trip, the group I was in traveled to Windsor. The queen was in residence, as indicated by the flag over the castle. It was an odd realization knowing that there was royalty about, even though I knew I was in no danger of bumping into her while I was buying Scotch blankets for my mother.

It’s exactly this sort of aloofness that’s presented in Stephen Frears’ The Queen. Elizabeth gives off an air of detatchment from her people in the days following the death of Diana, former Princess of Wales. This aloofness puts her at odds with her subjects and is reinforced by her husband. All the while, the new prime minister, Tony Blair, tries to guide her out of the trouble she has found herself in. I wondered as the film started what role the queen’s grandchildren would play, but fortunately, they were scarcely in it at all.

All in all, this was a very well-put-together movie. The shot selections are solid, and the acting is quite good, as you might expect from a cast that includes Helen Mirren and James Cromwell. The editing is good, if not outstanding. In the end, though, I feel more as if I watched a well-produced television movie than a theatrical release. This is a feeling that is creeping more and more into dramas, with only the avant-garde such as The Chumscrubber pulling away, if only because of their oddness.

What this film does do very well is give us a glimpse into what the rationale might have been that week in September 1997. I appreciate this look inside the British monarchy and feel better educated for having done so.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 1:13 am and is filed under Reviews - Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.