I was in no rush whatsoever to view this film, since I was never one who worshipped at the shrine of Diana and was sure that it would annoy me. Now that it has finally come my way, I must admit that I didn't like it as such, but thought it was extremely well-made and that Helen Mirren justly deserved the many plaudits she received for her work in the title role.
I remember the week in question well, even 'though I was at a conference in the States at the time. Nearly everyone I knew kept coming up and offering their sincere condolences, as if all of my nearest and dearest had just been massacred. As I followed the news from England, I kept getting more and more angry at the pressure being put upon the Queen by the opportunistic press, and I'm not even British for goodness sake! The director Stephen Frears has produced an even-handed and professional film, mixing the actors with news footage from that time -- much more effective than having someone pretending to be Diana. As for Mirren, for an avowedly anti-Royalist, she did a remarkable job at getting under the Queen's skin and revealing her as the most human of all the protagonists, as she fought between years of tradition and realising that she could be misreading her subjects; it was a well-rounded, sympathetic, and all-too-believable performance. Michael Sheen as the new Prime Minister was also excellent, using the developing events for his own political mileage, yet showing great empathy with the dilemma the Queen faced. But as for the actors portraying Mrs. Blair and political-spinner Alastair Campbell, I felt like roundly slapping them for their self-serving vitriol. In short, this was an intelligent and quite fair look at a very uncommon and hysterical week, but frankly not one I would care to revisit again.
1 comment:
Does it show the bit where the Queen phones up the Paris hitman, or is that a bit of information a bit too sensative.....
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