"Great" is a descriptive too often used by promoters and salesmen (or women). Unless you're talking about Stan Musial or "Casablanca," you're dealing in hyperbole–almost all the time. Sometimes, however, there's a happy exception, something that deserves the accolade. "The King's Speech," opening today, is worthy of the adjective. It's a great movie, with absolutely stunning performances from Colin Firth, as King George VI, and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, the speech therapist who made it possible for him to succeed.
The king's problem was a bad stutter, bad to the point where, in an early scene, he stands, speechless and mortified, in front of a microphone at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, unable to utter a sound. Not yet the king, Albert Frederick Arthur George, called Bertie by his family, was the second son of King George V (a perfect Michael Gambon), teased and mocked by his older brother (a brilliant Guy Pearce), who would ascend to the throne as King Edward VIII, then abdicate it for Wallis Simpson ("the woman I love," played in properly vicious style by Eve Best).
Bertie becomes King George VI in May, 1937, a decade of turmoil. Hitler's star is rising, the Great Depression hangs as a weight on everyone. With the encouragement of his wife, who became queen mother at his death in 1952, the king looks for help with the stutter. Various hacks and quacks take a turn, but he eventually meets Logue, an Australian whose methods are decidedly unusual. He demands that the king come to his rather seedy office. He calls him Bertie. But there is improvement. In small steps. But improvement. Eventually, their relationship expanded to real friendship, just another nice touch.
David Seidler's screenplay sets the king's problem against the larger canvas of England's problem. Parliament did a lot of dithering and doddering as the Nazi influence spread; Winston Churchill spoke often, and Timothy Spall is excellent in his interpretation of the man who later would be prime minister. The cast, solid from top to bottom, also includes Claire Bloom as Queen Mary, the king's mother; Derek Jacobi as Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury. Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez portray the royal princesses, Elizabeth the queen today, and Margaret Rose, respectively, but they were children and only incidental witnesses to their father's battle against his demons.
Carter is strong as King George's wife, supporting him in his struggle, calling (incognito, of course) on various doctors and interviewing them about their methods and techniques, then
battling to help him in the "lessons" that Logue prescribed.
Director Tom Hooper is a fine story-teller, whose television experience included a number of Masterpiece Theatre episodes and the wonderful John Adams mini-series of two years ago. He is not particularly flashy, but his focus is on the story, telling it simply and to maximum effect. Seidler wrote a rich, detailed screenplay, and Hooper's direction brings forth Firth and Rush in exciting performances. Never would one expect talk about talk to be so exciting.
The King's Speech opens today at several theaters.
—Joe
Comments
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What a great review, I really Liked the movie, even though after watching it I felt like “Alright, the king was able to do his speech, and everyone is so happy. They wouldn’t be so glad if they knew what’s coming….”