Nine years ago, I was one of those people glued to the television set when the news of an automobile crash in a Parisian tunnel hit CNN, soon to hear the tragic news of the Princess's death. I joined with my good friend Lord Darlow in grieving the loss of his cousin and in cursing the press and paparazzi for their contributions to this terrible event. Naturally, the following weekend I arose early in the morning once again to watch the funeral processions and the state funeral from Westminster Abbey. Certainly, I was a Diana fan, and I'm also a confirmed monarchist.
It was with this background that I was dragged into the E Street Theater Sunday night to watch the new motion picture, The Queen.
The critics have been praising this film and the studio has been promoting the usual Oscar hype for the movie's star, Dame Helen Mirren. I'm not a regular movie-goer, so the trailers I had seen for the film were very limited; thus, I was not exactly sure of the content of the movie, not knowing if it was a biography of Her Majesty or a modern portrayal.
As it turns out, the movie is a historical docudrama of sorts recounting the days between the death of the Princess and the funeral, attempting to show the Queen's and the royal family's reaction and response to the events of the day, as well as the continuing political machinations of then-new prime minister, Tony Blair. Woven in and out of the movie was news footage featuring the late Princess, the French papparazzi, her wedding, and her funeral. What concerns me about the movie is that it portrays the featured events as literal fact. Now, I've certainly not researched the matter, but I'm not aware of diaries, recordings, or reports from the involved parties as to exactly what was thought, done, and said during those days; I suspect that a great deal of artistic license was taken.
Dame Helen appears in practically all of the movie. She appears rather dour and at times almost petulant. In portraying the Queen's strong sense of duty and royal decorum, she makes the Queen appear distant and unsympathetic, even in those scenes designed to elicit sympathy. Interestingly, Dame Helen previously played Elizabeth I in last year's television drama of the same name and Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George.
Counterbalancing the Queen in the story is the newly elected Tony Blair, played by Micheal Sheen, who seems rather an opportunistic, shallow, out-of-his-league boy married to a bitter and anti-monarchist wife. Alex Jennings plays the Prince of Wales, and the movie makes him out to be quite the spineless, indecisive whimp. Filling out the cast are James Cromwell as a blustering, grumpy Duke of Edinburgh and Sylvia Sims as an essentially inconsequential Queen Mother.
Some of the cinematography was beautiful, especially in those scenes shot in the gorgeous Scottish Highland. The set designs and most especially the costumes were all fabulous.
The whole storyline of the real life public reaction to Diana's death has always puzzled me. The royal family's and the Spencer family's initial response to the death was, I think, the correct thing to do. They wanted it to be a private family matter for a person who had been hounded by the press and public during her marriage. And, the death of a royal divorcée—a former HRH, as they called it—had no precedent in public royal mourning. It certainly seemed to me that the tasteful, dignified thing was to have private family rites and not a grand public event. And yet the public had this illogical, unexpected outpouring of public grief, holding candlelight vigils outside the royal castles, bringing tens of thousands of floral offerings to lay outside the gates, and depositing all kinds of memorabilia in memory of a dead divorcée. This demonstration of grief has set the precedent for all kinds of public displays for common people all over the world. Yet, whether it was the Princess of Wales, a rock star, or some person whose death made the news, I cannot see why the public should be emoting as though the never-met deceased were their dearest and closest family member.
The movie explored this public reaction, and alluded somewhat to the insidious role of the 24-hour news media and the tabloid press in fueling the evolution of public opinion and behavior. That, perhaps, is the one redeeming value of this movie.
Anglophiles and Diana fans will all no doubt want to see this movie. Others probably will find it a bit sleepy. But as for Academy Awards? I dunno. Perhaps. But it will depend upon the competition and whether or not any truly good movies are released in 2006.
Matt's Kody Pose with the shiraz at the theater
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