showing the life of Elizabeth and the days after the death of Diana and the choice of Blair as the country's new Prime Minister, but you have to really be interested in the queen to sit it through without getting bored in the middle. The film does engages you quite easily and from the beginning is rather nice, showing the awkward meeting between Blair, his wife and Elizabeth. The Queen gives you the feeling to get a glimpse of what's happening inside the life of queen Elizabeth and the othermembers of the royal family. Because of Hellen Mirren's splendid performance you forget you're watching an actress, isntead of the real queen, enhancing the feeling of getting a glimpse of Elizabeth's life even more. It's strange, because at the end of the day we end up knowing not that much, or at least we can't be completely sure this is how Elizabeth's life really is. It's just a depiction of how the makers of the film think her life is and how she coped with the death of princess Diana. But most of the film you forget about all of that and just go along with it, watching this group of characters who are part of our real life. Still the film never grabs you, which is partly because of Mirren's great performance. She's so convincing as Elizabeth, making you forget it's not really her, that you have to really care about the real Elizabeth to feel engaged. When you're not interested in Elizabeth as a person, you probably won't feel that much interest in Elizabeth the character either, meaning that when she cries you won't really care, you won't be really touched. The Queen is a good film, but not at all that great. There are films more interesting and far better and which provide for at least some kind of challenge or cinematic beauty, which The Queen does not offer.What Is It About?
After princess Diana's tragic death and Tony Blair as Britain's new Prime Minister, queen Elizabeth struggles keeping matters private and doing what seems best to keep in touch with the British people. Shown doing her every day tasks, meeting Blair, but also going
out for a walk with the dogs, Elizabeth tries to go on with her life not caring too much about Diana. Slowly she is forced to give into the people's demands and takes up Blair's advise to pay a visit to Buckingham palace which has become a scene for grief and people coming together. Filled with flowers, the flag is now raised and whether she wants it or not, she does win back the people's trust and love. However, if she will come to forgive Blair and admit he was right by providign a big ceremony for Diana, who is referred to as the people's princess, only time will tell.Final Verdict: ***1/2
Even people not really interested in the queen, her life, Tony Blair, or the whole aftermath after princess Diana's death, will probably enjoy The Queen. But there's a great chance that for a lot of people, just like me, the film loses momentum and Hellen Mirren's superb performance is the only thing left that's really worth while to finish watching the film. It's not that it isn't good, it's just too soft at times, with not much happening. Maybe it's just not my kind of film. But as I mentioned before, it's more satire at times, trying to bring to life the lives of these royalty some people are really interested in. Not giving real food for thought or providing new opinions about the tragic death of Diana and what might have been the cause, The Queen doesn't
really takes a stand and it doesn't give any real insight on what Frears' own thoughts about the whole situation might be. It can be said that The Queen is probably not the type of film to do this, it's not its goal. But it would have been nice to give it an extra political message, which would make you think more about the events shown, instead of just showing them, trying to bring to life Elizabeth and her family as realistically as possible and the events concerning them. From a film that was given so much praise after its release, I expected more. The Queen, even though also enjoyable for non-royalty lovers, still is a film that will likely appeal most to the people interested in the film's subjects. And being British or living in the UK yourself will probably spark this interest inside you even more as well. The Queen is not at all a bad film, but it's just not really all that special and for a lot of people might be a bit too soft and not that interesting.
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