"The Queen": a film about Elizabeth II and the death of Diana.

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by Elise27

I have to say, I went to see this film with my husbabnd who is not really interested in royalty and who really had a more negative view of the queen but after the film completely changed his views and was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

How interesting! My boss just got back from London and saw the Queen on the flight home.

She said Helen Mirren played the Queen wonderfully - she said she hated the bitchy Queen and thought it was Mirren's best performance.

I never thought someone could see that movie and interpret the Queen as a really nasty bitchy woman.

[Elise27]

Beatrixfan-I agree that the queen would be at least uncomfortable with the way the other members of the royal family are represented. and i'll bet loads of money it isnt the queen's favorite. nevertheless i do think it might have a positive impact on how some perceive the queen afterall not everyone is as good a subject as you, and i also meant more internationally (not that her majesty would be very concerned with what people outside of her territories think of her) because i think in england, at least in my experience when i lived there, the queen continues to be respected (I even met young people who admire her, one particular person i met who was 19 told me she admired the queen because she thought the queen was a strong woman), the negative view of her following diana's death was shortlived but here in the states and in other places i think that many people still perceived the queen negatively as a result of those events and the movie and the publicity around the film and the film itself has had an impact on that I think. and by the way why are you not elizabethfan or lilibet fan if you are such a loyal subject?!

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

Oh I'm sure she's aware of it. Personally I don't see how anyone could possibly suggest the Queen would enjoy the film when it painted her mother, husband and son out to be complete chinless wonders. I think Dame Helen is a marvellous actress. She gave a flawless performance in 'Calendar Girls', her portrayal of Elizabeth I was simply amazing and I adored her Mrs Wilson character in 'Gosford Park'. I deeply respect her for finding a love for the Queen - but to some of us, this isn't anything new. Dame Helen speaks about the Queen as if she is a young Princess again, being discovered for the first time. Well, some of us have loved Her Majesty all our lives and have always put her before ourselves. Even if we believed something she did was wrong, we supported her. Even if we believed she should have said more, we supported her. That is unconditional love that IMO, every true and loyal subject should have for their monarch. My loyalty to the Queen has never waivered. It isn't the result of some film with an actress in a dodgy wig. It's natural. It just is. I'm very pleased that Helen Mirren has enjoyed playing the Queen and I'm delighted for her that she's won a few gongs for it but I think all this talk of it being the greatest film of the year and the Queen's favourite is pure fiction, just like the script of said film.

[BeatrixFan]

ElizabethFan was far too long! And I think Queen Bea deserves a little nod of affection from fellow Europeans.

[Elise27]

Originally Posted by ysbel

How interesting! My boss just got back from London and saw the Queen on the flight home.

She said Helen Mirren played the Queen wonderfully - she said she hated the bitchy Queen and thought it was Mirren's best performance.

I never thought someone could see that movie and interpret the Queen as a really nasty bitchy woman.

thats funny i think that is true, to me Helen's queen did seem bitchy at times but then i found her bitchyness rather funny and I liked it that she was so strong but i thought that well one comes to understand her. I mean if we for a second believed most of this film i think one has to understand where she is coming from and why she is the way she is and i think that "the queen" does make at least an attempt at conveying that she has the feelings she has because of tradition and her position and the circumstances with diana and then you sort of feel sorry for her. and also she is rude to tony blair but here she is having been queen for such a long time and along comes this "new kid on the block" who seems to think he knows better than her. at least that was my take on it.

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by Elise27

thats funny i think that is true, to me Helen's queen did seem bitchy at times but then i found her bitchyness rather funny and I liked it that she was so strong but i thought that well one comes to understand her. I mean if we for a second believed most of this film i think one has to understand where she is coming from and why she is the way she is and i think that "the queen" does make at least an attempt at conveying that she has the feelings she has because of tradition and her position and the circumstances with diana and then you sort of feel sorry for her. and also she is rude to tony blair but here she is having been queen for such a long time and along comes this "new kid on the block" who seems to think he knows better than her. at least that was my take on it.

Well I thought sometimes that Helen Mirren played the Queen as Her Majesty Jane Tennison from her portrayal of the police chief in the Prime Suspect series (come to think of it, I never imagined the Queen as a Chief Inspector Superintendent before) but she always played her with an inner sense of moral code unlike the smarmy public relations man that worked for Tony Blair.

So I could see where people could say Mirren's portrayal was tough but I couldn't see the nastiness that my boss saw.

[crisiñaki]

We all are a more or less bitchy and the Queen is the kind of person who is very nice if you are on her good side, but wrong her and...

Still waters run deep...


Ysbel, maybe your boss had the same reaction the Brits had (in the movie) about Diana's death? maybe if that person doesn't follow royalty wouldn't be able to get the subtleties we all get as royalty fans...

[Elise27]

Originally Posted by crisiñaki

We all are a more or less bitchy and the Queen is the kind of person who is very nice if you are on her good side, but wrong her and...

Still waters run deep...


Ysbel, maybe your boss had the same reaction the Brits had (in the movie) about Diana's death? maybe if that person doesn't follow royalty wouldn't be able to get the subtleties we all get as royalty fans...

I have to say that although the queen seems like a very nice person, when she looks dead serious or rather unamused she seems like the last person one would want to cross/anger---i hypothesize that the queen might be the sort of person that can completely scare you by the way she's looking at you--my own mother had that gift so she never had to yell at us all she had to do was give us The look and that was it.

[Oppie]

Ok I know I am a little late to the party (I waited until it was at one of the cheap theatres) but I have a few things to add.

I think the problem with the Queen Mother character was that she was that she wasn't the Queen Mother but more of a plot device used to explain things to the audiance (I think expostion character is the term), but the character wasn't written to be The Queen Mother.

With regards to Prince Philip character I had problems with the way he was protrayed to, I think they gave us a lot of background into why the Queen acted that way but not Prince Philip, yet it did seem that he was on screen alot I think they should have made his character a little more deminsional or cut his role down a bit. The whole Margaret bit was a little over the top in my opinion.

I think there was only so much they could do with the Prince Charles character without making William and Harry more prominate so I understand why he came off the way he did. But he did come off incrediable weak, you have to wonder if he was in a state of real shock or they just really dropped the ball with his character.

The part with the stag, the first part was interesting but the second part I don't think needed to be done (where she goes to see the body). Other than that I thought Mirren and Sheen did good jobs with there roles. I liked the outbrust part that Sheen did towards the end.

For some reason though the scene that hit me the most was when they were looking at the flowers. It never occured to me that there would be nasty messages directed at the RF. Looking back I should have realized but still that part made me unbeliavable sad.

[norwegianne]

Helen Mirren was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress

The Queen was nominated for best film.

Stephen Frears for best director.

Peter Morgan for best screenplay.

Consolata Boyle for best costumes.

Alexandre Desplat for best score.

[Mahoogie]

I watched the film and it seemed that Prince Philip was sort of a villain.His character was outspoken and sarcastic.He wasn't even affected or felt shocked after hearing Diana had an accident.He was even reluctant to leave Balmoral.The Queen had more heart than her husband as portrayed in the story..

[Avalon]

Originally Posted by Mahoogie

I watched the film and it seemed that Prince Philip was sort of a villain.His character was outspoken and sarcastic.He wasn't even affected or felt shocked after hearing Diana had an accident.He was even reluctant to leave Balmoral.The Queen had more heart than her husband as portrayed in the story..

Only don't forget that it's only the directors view and in no way what might have actually happened.
Personally I was very disappointed with Prince Philip and Prince Charles's characters - they looked weak and unfinished.

[auntie]

Where can I get a DVD of the film?

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by crisiñaki

Ysbel, maybe your boss had the same reaction the Brits had (in the movie) about Diana's death? maybe if that person doesn't follow royalty wouldn't be able to get the subtleties we all get as royalty fans...

You have a point crisinaki. She doesn't follow royalty at all and some of the questions she asked me were quite funny. She asked, why is there no King? Doesn't the son always inherit the throne? I told her that in Britain the son inherits the throne if there IS a son but if there isn't then the daughter inherits to keep the throne from jumping to a distant relation. She thought that was fascinating.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by auntie

Where can I get a DVD of the film?

I don't think the DVD is out yet. You can sign up at Amazon for them to e-mail you when it becomes available.

[Skydragon]

Why its real star will never see The Queen

It is a film that has changed public perceptions of the woman who has reigned for 55 years. The Queen has emerged from the movie of the same name as caring, calm and dignified.

Why its real star will never see The Queen | Uk News | News | Telegraph

[ysbel]

Hmm, you think after the Golden Globe speech, the screenwriter of the movie was a little hostile to EIIR?

In that case, its all the more remarkable that the Queen's reputation has been rehabilitated somewhat as a result of the movie.

Luckily a good director and good actors can overcome a one-sided script.

[Oppie]

The speechwriter had a very weird acceptance speech at the GG, In my opinion he was going to make an anti-war statment, but then changed his mind at the last minute or got cut off.