The Queen

I can't help but notice¹ that Symon from my company's film club and I share a similar fondness in films. We tend to like and dislike the same movies. If I was a girl, and he wasn't spoken for, and I was a girl², there'd be serious chemistry there. Then again, who want's to date someone who's exactly like them? That'd be boring. I want a woman who challenges³ me intellectually.

Have I not got to the film yet? Sorry.

I agree with most of Symon's review. Why then am I writing another one? Simply to say that if Helen Mirren doesn't get best actress award at the Oscars for this film, then there is no justice in the world. Seriously, at times I caught myself thinking "How did they get the Queen to appear in a movie about herself?" She's that good.

This is an excellent film about a troubling time for the royals. It's fairly sympathetic to their situation, showing that they just didn't know how to react to the situation and were for some reason unable to distinguish the difference between the public and private Diana. There's a gentle and fabulous balance between serious, sombre and humourous tones in the film. It opens with Queen Elizabeth II talking to her portrait painter, with her complaining that she's never been able to vote.

The film is full of detail and shows events in a new light and is what my dad would call "a quality product"

Score: A solid B+

OQ: Symon has, as usual, found the best line in the movie. It raised a few laughs from the audience. I'm going to steal it and use it myself, because I can't think of any better ones that don't involve swearing.

Aide: Prime Minister, it's Gordon on the phone for you.
PM: Tell him to hang on.

Although there is another one that's almost as good, when Blair is defending the Queen to his press secretary. I can't remember the whole thing, and it would lose something in the translation. Go and see the film for yourself, you'll see what I mean.

Trivia (Courtesy of IMDB): At the film's premier at the Venice Film Festival, Helen Mirren's performance received a five minute standing ovation.

¹ I've been to New York, I have to sound like Carrie from Sex and the City in at least one of my reviews

² I know I've already mentioned that. I just think it's important.

³ When I say challenge, obviously I mean long discussions about the nature of existence, and not Carol Vorderman's Sudoku Challenge. Although I have just recently got into Sudoku. Man, is that addictive.