Word: queens
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Stephen Frears’ “The Queen” is a singularly persuasive attack on the English monarchy. It contrasts the attitudes of Queen Elizabeth II—an old woman out of tune with the feelings of England the week after her former daughter-in-law Princess Diana’s death—with the spin-tacular performance of her recently elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen...
...contrast to the Queen, The Prime Minister lives a simple life in a house with his children and wife, Cherie. He is among the people, in the city, better able to understand their needs...
...reminiscence about Diana’s importance, which contrasts strangely with the mourning masses. The effect of this is to put the viewer even further into the Queen’s confusion at the scale of the grief. But the viewer realizes how much of a mistake the queen is making much earlier than she does, increasing the strength of the case against...
...illustrate that the costs of continued power will affect everyone, the final conversation shows a chastened Queen explaining to Blair the speed at which the populace turned against her. She then declares that Blair must realize that, though he seems overwhelmingly popular at that point, “it will happen to you too Mr. Blair. Suddenly and without warning, it will happen to you.” Blair’s recent decision to step down early next year in the light of spiraling opposition is a fitting epilogue...
Bottom Line: This film intelligently and entertainingly explores a previously untreated passage in the Diana mythos. It presents a balanced portrayal of the enigmatic Queen Elizabeth II that, paradoxically, can induce only one conclusion: off with the head of state...