Movie Review: The Queen

Title: The Queen
Language: English
Starring: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen

The movie is based on how the British royal family deals with the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death. The key characters involved in the script are the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Tony Blair. As the title goes the movie is focused almost entirely on the Queen and her challenges in balancing the groundswell of goodwill for Diana among the public, her dislike for the Princess, the Royal norms and traditions and the personal tragedy for the grand kids. Despite focusing primarily on deep human emotions and conflicts, the movie is sufficiently fast-paced. Helen Mirren’s performance as the Queen earned her the Oscar. I haven’t seen the other movies that were nominated. Her performance in this film was certainly very impressive. Michael Sheen as Tony Blair was excellent. The role gave him plenty of scope for portraying a range of emotions and he has made full use of this opportunity. Prince Charles is portrayed as pragmatic and tactful while Cherie Blair is shown as having little respect for the monarchy in general.

The movie is extremely well-made. A tight script ensures that the focus on the main theme of the film is never lost. At the same time all the characters are explored in depth and fits very well with the overall film. Overall, a good film, worth watching.