The Queen (La reina)

I saw her Elizabeth I not so long ago and I was bowled over by her fearlessness, I was moved, transported, amused. Now, Elizabeth II, the living Queen. Helen Mirren accomplishes the impossible. She lets us know the Queen, her Queen, without passing judgment. Just being her. I found myself understanding her dilemma in human terms. Something that she had done so brilliantly with Elizabeth I, she humanized her or rather she allows us to find the human creature behind the iconic façade. The difficulty of not falling into a caricature or a simple impersonation may have seemed insurmountable but here she is. Perfect, real, extraordinary. Long Live Helen Mirren!

It's 1997. Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) and the Labour Party have just won a landslide victory. Then Princess Diane is killed in a Paris tunnel. The Queen (Helen Mirren) is reluctant to change any protocol. Prince Philip (James Cromwell) dismisses the tidal wave of grief. Blair tries to advise them despite their intransigence. Eventually the pressure becomes too overwhelming and the Royals must change with the times.

There are two great performances in this. There is also an interesting personal drama within this international story. The death of a princess may not be important in the grand scheme of it all, but it provides a backdrop for a compelling personal drama. Michael Sheen seems to be the guy to play Tony Blair. He's great at it. Helen Mirren is exceptional. She brings both the stoic and the scared with such ease. She fully deserves the Oscar for best actress.

How silly of me. I kept putting off seeing this movie because I had an acute case of "Dianaetis" Too much about the doomed princess of the people. Well, I was wrong. I was very, very, wrong. The film is a surprising, unpretentious masterpiece and I haven't mention Helen Mirren yet. Apart from the fact that it's a film perfectly suited to be seen in your own living room or like me, in bed, it's also cinema with capital letters. The illusion created by Helen Mirren's portrayal is total and I mean total, eerily so. There were moments in which I was seeing the real thing or the "royal" thing I should say. When Elizabeth II bows to pressure and returns to London and views first hand the overwhelming show of affection for Diana, something happens to her, we will never know what exactly, but something. That in itself is Helen Mirren's mastery. To tell us exactly that without revealing anything. Needless to say I'm buying the DVD. I know I will see this one many times.

On the 1st of September 1997, the world saw tragedy. In the turmoil that followed, Princess Diana's death was blamed on the Media, the driver, and an entire array of others, before the upset and ill-meant malaise of the public was turned sneeringly to the Royal Family. In this film, we get a glimpse of what life was like inside Buckingham Palace, and whether The Queen (played here by Helen Mirren) was being cold and uncaring, or, if she was the one who was suffering most of all.

Director Stephen Frears recreates one week in 1997 with intelligent, deft strokes. The presentation of Princess Diana is artfully done in news snippets and archive footage, which brilliantly demonstrates the high impact her being had on people. The design of The Queen's home and her surroundings are convincing without being overly showy, and the Alexandre Desplat score is by turns dark, sad, and grand, perfectly summarizing the mindset of those involved.

But the film belongs to Helen Mirren, who takes on of her most challenging roles and showing us that behind the Queen lay a person, and one with feelings. In her role as the reigning lady, she is the epitome of suppressed disappointment and hurt. The Queen chose not to make a parade of her feelings in response to Diana's death, and, though the nation hated her for it, we learn here that it is not because she did not care, but because she honestly thought it the right thing to do.

As a young and newly elected Tony Blair with big aspirations and an even bigger grin, Michael Sheen is freakishly good as the Prime Minister. His performance shows a likable side of the prime minister in his refusal to side with the public over the denouncement of The Queen for her actions, and his attempts to make The Queen limit the damage that she has made is the basis for a very insightful story.

Other delights in this film come in some high-brow one-liners and some other good performances, but the best thing about it is how it manages to make you think, and even empathise with a group of people that you never saw yourself giving a toss about. At under 100 minutes, The Queen is funny, pointed and highly intelligent, showing that, as always, there are two sides to every story.

A moment that may have felt like surrender to Elizabeth II is the most moving and powerful moment in a film filled with moving and powerful moments. Helen Mirren works a miracle with her characterization. When the Queen is forced by circumstances to address her people and mourn in public Diana's death, Helen Mirren doesn't forget that her character is a seasoned public speaker but not an actress. When she delivers her speech to her subjects, the real strength is in her commitment to her duty and not the meaning of her words. It is a chilling, masterful acting stroke. Stephen Frears uses the brilliantly structured script to reveal something that's always being in front of our eyes but we've never seen. The privacy of the most public people in the world. Michael Sheen is terrific as Blair and every piece of casting is truly inspired but it's Helen Mirren's film, oh yeah, one hundred per cent.