Palais royal!

Those of us who found the much-vaunted albeit slightly dubious charm of Princess Diana terminally elusive will revel in this delicious satire in which writer-director Valerie Lemercier captures perfectly that faux demureness and all too real touch of the retard about Diana. Lemercier, who is much more lovely and desirable than Diana ever was, is right on the nose with her characterisation developing it naturally from the gauche, naive speech therapist who lucked into a Prince (Lambert Wilson)who, as the second son - shades of 'Bertie' aka George the Sixth - had no realistic claim to the throne but did have an elder brother who might be a Prince but would never make sperm Count so that when the King dies unexpectedly Wilson finds himself the new reigning Monarch and Lemercier by extension becomes Queen. Ever-so-slowly the moth becomes a social butterfly and Lemercier's genius is that she can makes us wince/reach for the sick-bag as Armelle is incapable of passing a Black child or a Senior Citizen without summoning the photographers and posing winsomely, yet sympathize with her rebellion against Royal protocol/chastisement as personified and practiced by Catherine Deneuve's Queen and Michel Aumont's Brother-in-law. The scene where Armelle gets a custard pie in the kisser will resonate with all those who longed to hurl just such a missile at the 'Queen of Hearts' as will many other scenes. By now, of course, I've lost half my readers but I urge the other half to seek out this gem as soon as possible.