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The Queen (film)

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The Queen
The Queen teaser poster
Directed by	Stephen Frears
Produced by	Andy Harries Christine Langan Tracey Seaward Francois Ivernel (executive producer) Cameron McCracken (executive producer) Scott Rudin (executive producer)
Written by	Peter Morgan
Starring	Helen Mirren Michael Sheen James Cromwell Helen McCrory Alex Jennings Sylvia Syms
Music by	Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography	Affonso Beato
Editing by	Lucia Zucchetti
Distributed by	Pathé Pictures (UK theatrical) 20th Century Fox (UK DVD) Miramax Films (USA) Icon Productions (Australian theatrical) Warner Home Video (Australian DVD)
Release date(s)	2 September 2006 (premiere at VFF) 15 September 2006 (UK) 30 September 2006 (USA, limited) 13 October 2006 (Canada, limited) 20 October 2006 (Canada, wide) 26 December 2006 (Australia, limited)
Running time	97 min.
Language	English
Budget	GB£9,800,000 (US$15,000,000)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Queen is a 2006 Academy Award-winning British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan and stars Oscar-winner Helen Mirren as the title role. The plot takes an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the interaction between Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (played by Michael Sheen) following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and focuses on their struggle to reach a compromise between treating her death as a private tragedy for the Spencer family and her grandsons Prince Harry and Prince William, and appeasing the public's demand for an overt display of mourning.

1 Plot
2 Cast
- 2.1 Main characters
- 2.2 Other characters
3 Production
4 Reception
5 Soundtrack
6 References
7 External links

The film begins on the eve of the 1997 British general election, which saw Tony Blair (Sheen) as the United Kingdom's first Labour Party Prime Minister in 18 years. While posing for an official portrait, the Queen talks with the artist and expresses her regret about not being allowed to vote. Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren) is slightly wary of the new prime minister and his pledge to "modernise" the country, but Blair promises to respect the independence of the Royal Family. Blair visits Buckingham Palace to kiss hands, where the Queen asks him to form Her Majesty's Government.

Three months later, during a visit to Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales is inside a car being chased by paparazzi when the driver accidentally crashes into a tunnel pillar underneath the Pont de l'Alma, resulting in her death. Blair makes a public statement, written by his director of communications, Alastair Campbell (Mark Bazeley), in which he describes Diana as "the People's Princess." The phrase catches on immediately. Over the next few days, Britons erupt in an intense state of grief, as millions go to Buckingham Palace to place floral tributes and notes along the railings.

Meanwhile, the Royal Family is still on holiday at Balmoral Castle, the Queen's Scottish estate in Aberdeenshire, a contrast with the relatively modest middle-class household the Blairs keep in their constituency. Diana's death sparks mixed feelings among senior members of the family. Diana had not been much beloved by them while she was alive. The Queen observes that, since Diana divorced her son, Charles, Prince of Wales (Alex Jennings), a year before, Diana is no longer a member of the Royal Family. Consequently, as she insists to Blair, the funeral arrangements are a "private matter" to be left to the late princess's own family, the Spencers. After initially hesitating, she accedes to Prince Charles' request, following the Queen Mother's suggestion, for his use of an aircraft of the Royal Flight to fly to Paris and bring Diana's body back to England. Charles ensures that Diana's coffin is draped with a royal standard instead of being in a "wooden crate."

In London, the bouquets begin to pile up along the Palace railings, forcing the changing of the guard to use another gate. As the days pass, the British tabloids become increasingly impatient with the absence of an expression of public condolence from the royal family. Prince Charles, during a brief conversation with Blair when Diana's body is returned to London and later through back-channel contacts, leaves no doubt that he shares Blair's views about the need for a more public expression of grief. Blair's popularity rises sharply, to the delight of the Prime Minister's more republican advisers, including his wife, Cherie (Helen McCrory), who see the Monarchy as hopelessly antiquated.

Blair, however, does not share these sentiments. He wants to save the Royal Family "from themselves" before it is too late. Despite not concurring with the Royal Family's course of action, Blair respects the Royal Family and chides his wife for her lack of respect. (Later on, Blair reveals himself as a traditionalist who supports the Monarchy and angrily denounces the anti-royal disdain of his Labour counterparts.) After days of building pressure, Blair calls the Queen at Balmoral and urgently recommends a course of action he believes is needed to retain (or regain) the public's confidence in the Monarchy. These measures include attending a public funeral for Diana at Westminster Abbey, flying a Union Flag at half mast over Buckingham Palace (a step without precedent in four centuries of royal protocol), and speaking to the nation about Diana's legacy in a live, televised address from the Palace.

Blair's recommendations outrage the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (James Cromwell) and the Queen Mother (Sylvia Syms). Philip is also surprised that Elton John, a homosexual, attends and sings a song (Candle in the Wind) in Diana's honour. They view such steps as an undignified surrender to public hysteria, created by the tabloids, that will eventually calm down when the public comes to its senses. The Queen seems more concerned about this and although she shares their feelings, she begins to have doubts as she closely follows the news coverage. Speaking with her mother, the Queen muses that there has been some shift in public values, that perhaps one should step aside and hand over the monarchy to the next generation when one no longer understands one's people. Her mother reminds the Queen of the vow she made as a princess (to devote "my whole life, whether it be long or short... to your service").

In a symbolic and fictional scene (a portion of which was played during the Oscar television programme), the Queen is alone in the countryside, her vehicle having broken down. A 14 point stag approaches, and their eyes meet. She recognises the deer as one that her own family has been unsuccessfully hunting. When she later learns of its having been killed by a neighbouring sport hunter, she visits the estate where the stag is being dressed. It was an odd request to see the fallen stag. However, the Queen identifies with something that at one time was so regal and in a matter of hours had fallen from a state of grace. The description of the stag as having been wounded and hunted to its death is also reminiscent of the fate that Diana herself also fell victim to. The stag's fall from grace could also be seen as a metaphor for Elizabeth herself and her public perception, since many criticized her and the royal family for not acknowledging Diana's death. In a matter of hours, Elizabeth too "fell from grace", as her reputation and public view were seriously affected by the events of that week.

The film ends when the Queen returns to London, inspects the floral tributes, and goes on live television to speak about Diana's life and work, even going so far as calling her "an exceptional and gifted human being." This gesture seems to diffuse the public's anger. Two months later, Blair comes to the Palace for a weekly meeting. The Queen has regained her popularity, but believes she will never quite fully recover from "that week". She cautions Blair that he too will find, one day, that public opinion can turn rapidly. With some banter about who should be advising whom, they go for a walk in the Palace garden, talking about Blair's current policy plans and apparently enjoying each other's company. The film was made 10 years subsequently at a time where the Queen's 'caution' has been realised and Prime Minister Tony Blair had found himself in the firing line of public opinion over the Iraq War, adding a sense of prescience to her advice.

Helen Mirren as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This film is the third time that Mirren has portrayed a British Queen: the first was Queen Elizabeth I in the 2005 miniseries Elizabeth I. The second was a Queen Consort, Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George (1994), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Michael Sheen as Prime Minister The Rt Hon Tony Blair MP. Sheen had previously played Blair in the 2003 TV film The Deal, also directed by Frears and written by Morgan.
James Cromwell as HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair
Alex Jennings as HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
Sylvia Syms as HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Roger Allam as Sir Robin Janvrin (Deputy Private Secretary to the Queen)
Tim McMulla as Stephen Lamport
Mark Bazeley as Alastair Campbell
Douglas Reith as Lord Airlie
Jimmy Carr as a transvestite

The screenplay was written by Peter Morgan and produced by Pathé Pictures and Granada Productions (ITV Productions). Stephen Frears had a clause in his contract from The Deal that allowed him to direct any follow-ups or sequels, and he was officially announced as director in September 2003.^[1] The film was shot on location in the United Kingdom, in England in London and Halton House in Buckinghamshire, and in Scotland at Balmoral Castle and Castle Fraser in Aberdeenshire. Mirren says transforming herself into the Queen came almost naturally after the wig and glasses, since she shares a default facial expression — a slightly downturned mouth — with the monarch.^[2] She regularly reviewed film and video footage of Elizabeth and kept photographs in her trailer during production.^[3] She also undertook extensive voice coaching, faithfully reproducing the Queen's delivery of her televised speech to the world. Morgan has said that her performance was so convincing that, by the end of production, crew members who had been accustomed to slouching or relaxing when they addressed her were standing straight up and respectfully folding their hands behind their backs.^[2] Mirren arranged to spend time off-camera with the supporting cast playing other members of the Royal Family, including James Cromwell, Alex Jennings and Sylvia Syms so they would be as comfortable with each other as a real family.^[3]

ITV's role in the production of the film allowed them an option for its television premiere^[4] and it was broadcast on 2 September 2007 (coinciding that weekend with a memorial service to Diana) to an average audience of 7.9 million, winning its timeslot.^[5] The DVD was released in the UK on 12 March 2007. Special features include a making-of featurette, and an audio commentary by Stephen Frears, writer Peter Morgan and Robert Lacey, biographer of Queen Elizabeth II. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the USA on 24 April 2007. As of 30 September 2007, The Queen has generated DVD sales of over $23 million.^[6]

Screenwriter Peter Morgan has stated that the film was not intended to be an historically accurate representation of the Queen's role. He says "As far as I am aware, I wrote about a cold, emotionally detached, haughty, difficult, prickly, private, uncommunicative, out-of-touch bigot. But people adore her [i.e. the character], because they think it was written with compassion and integrity rather than being a hatchet job." ^[7] However, there was considerable effort to recount the story with a degree of accuracy. Morgan reconstructed the events of that week through extensive interviews with many unnamed sources close to the Prime Minister and the Royal Family. Many of these sources were able to corroborate the accounts of others, giving Morgan enough information to imagine the intervening scenes.^[3]

Some aspects of the characters are known to be true to their real-life counterparts. Cherie Blair's hostility to the monarchy has been widely reported, including her refusal to curtsey.^[8] According to Morgan, "cabbage" is an actual term of endearment Philip uses for his wife.^[2]

Other elements represent characteristics associated with people depicted. The electric guitar seen behind Blair in his personal office is a reference to his past membership in the band Ugly Rumours while a student. The Newcastle United football jersey he wears to a family breakfast at 10 Downing Street is a reference to his support of that team.

The most notable inaccuracy is that Robin Janvrin is represented as the Queen's Private Secretary during the aftermath of Diana's death, but in fact that position was then occupied by Janvrin's predecessor, Sir Robert Fellowes, a brother-in-law of the late Diana, Princess of Wales; Janvrin was only the Deputy Private Secretary up until 1999 when he took the position of Private Secretary to the Queen. However, the film is accurate in depicting Janvrin as the person who delivered the news of Diana's accident to Her Majesty at Balmoral during the night.^[9]

The film exceeded box-office expectations; with a budget of $15 million the film has earned $56.4 million in the United States and has a world wide gross of $120 million.^[10] Remarkably the film was a box office success before it was given a wider release following the Golden Globe Awards, with a world wide gross surpassing $50 million.

Before the film was released, critics praised both Stephen Frears and Peter Morgan, who later garnered Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay. Michael Sheen's performance as Tony Blair earned him particular acclaim. But Helen Mirren's tour-de-force portrayal garnered her acclaim from critics around the world. Her portrayal made her a favourite for the Academy Award for Best Actress well before the film was released in theatres. After its showing at the Venice Film Festival, Mirren received a five-minute-long standing ovation. ^[11] Roger Ebert came out of recovery from surgery to personally give the film a review. He called it "spellbinding" and gave it four out of four stars. ^[12].The Queen was the most critically acclaimed film of 2006 with Mirren being the most critically acclaimed actress of the year. The Queen currently has a certified freshness rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com^[13].

Helen Mirren won at least 29 major awards for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II, many of which are listed below. She was nominated for at least 3 more.

Academy Awards record
1. Best Actress (Helen Mirren)
Golden Globe Awards record
1. Best Actress (Helen Mirren)
2. Best Screenplay
BAFTA Awards record
1. Best Picture
2. Best Actress (Helen Mirren)

79th Academy Awards (2006)

Won: Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role — Helen Mirren
Nominated: Best Motion Picture of the Year— Andy Harries, Christine Langan, Tracey Seaward
Nominated: Achievement in Directing — Stephen Frears
Nominated: Best Original Screenplay — Peter Morgan
Nominated: Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) — Alexandre Desplat
Nominated: Achievement in Costume Design — Consolata Boyle

2006 British Academy Film (BAFTA) Awards

Won: Best Film
Won: Actress in a Leading Role — Helen Mirren
Nominated: Outstanding British Film — Andy Harries, Christine Langan, Tracey Seaward, Stephen Frears, Peter Morgan
Nominated: The David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction — Stephen Frears
Nominated: Actor in a Supporting Role — Michael Sheen
Nominated: Original Screenplay — Peter Morgan
Nominated: Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music — Alexandre Desplat
Nominated: Editing — Lucia Zucchetti
Nominated: Costume Design — Consolata Boyle
Nominated: Makeup and Hair — Daniel Philipps