Odds are, you haven't heard of this movie. Or Helen Mirren. In case you care, she won the Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth II.
If you don't give a crap about the British Monarchy, then this movie is NOT for you. It's pretty slow, and in fact there's not really an ending...all it does is tell the story from the Queen's side during the time that Tony Blair got elected and Princess Diana's subsequent death. That's it. There's no resolution, and we all pretty much know what happened (the monarchy was accused of being cold and Elton John sang at the funeral).
"Is my refrigerator running? Why I believe it is....you want me to run after it? How rude!"
That being said, I adore the monarchy so I actually really enjoyed this movie. I can't justify WHY i like the monarchy...they're pretty useless. But since it's not my tax money that goes towards their elaborate lifestyles, I'm free to enjoy this somewhat archaic institution. I dig that they represent a particular class, that they have to always behave and look a certain way, that they're basically the country's mascots. I love that in an era before Paris Hilton and a pantyless-Britney Spears, they were what everyone wanted to be: rich, regal, eloquent, refined, and fabulous wardrobes.
They represent fairy tales.
Helen Mirren looks absolutely identical to the Queen, which sort of freaks you out after awhile. And she nailed the Queen's bow-legged walk.The other characters are a bit hard to distinguish becuase they weren't aiming for physical similarities.
The movie does a fabulous job of showing us the mentality from the inside. Apparently the week that Diana died, they stayed in Scotland and only came back upon pressure from Tony Blair for the funeral. As far as they were concerned, they thought "well...she's not a part of our family. It's up to the Spencers to decide how they want to handle it. We're not going to make a public statement because this is a family matter and the main concern right now is the boys. "
Their problem was that they underestimated the hold that Diana had on the people. You can't blame the Queen...why should she break centuries-old tradition for a chick who not only divorced from her family, who isn't an HRH anymore, but also pretty much spent the rest of her life publicly humiliating the monarchy? (I love Diana, but the girl really did know how to manipulate the press).
The flag is only flown to indicate when the royal family is in town...it has never, ever flown at half-mast before. So naturally the Queen was like "wtf, when my dad the KING died we didn't put the flag at half mast, why are we doing it for what is basically a regular civilian?". To be fair, there was some level of hysteria...if the monarchy were to cave every time people went psycho then...well they'd be really bad monarchy.
On the other hand, they really should have stayed in tune with how huge Diana was all around the world. In an era with the internet and all that, it would have been wise to address the death with a random statement saying "we're upset, the boys are grieving, now leave us the eff alone".
One thing I didn't know was that Elizabeth II had been a mechanic during the war. This isn't some hoity-toity princess-like chick...this woman is strong and has learned to fend for herself. Much like any female figurehead, she has to be stern and void of public feeling.
Anyway, alot of that is played out in the movie. Overall, VERY well done. Entertaining? Nope. Shocking? Nope. Interesting? Only to those of us who dig the monarchy.
As a side note, I think in my lifetime the death of Diana is the equivalent of the death of JFK. I remember exactly where I was (in Toronto visiting family), I remember all of us crowding around the tv, I remember all of us telling each other to shut up...I remember getting pretty emotional 'cause I grew up loving hte monarchy...my parents were married in England and i remember staying up watching Fergie and Andrew's wedding with her (too young to remember Diana's wedding). Plus the consipiracy theories will probably never go away. I can't believe it's been 10 years since she died...and thanks to her, Posh and Beckham are the new paparazzi favorites.
No comments:
Post a Comment