The Queen

Sometimes you need to write something even if you’re not entirely motivated to do so – fittingly, I watched The Queen for the first time tonight.

Beyond the immediate, immature jokes that ran through my head (“The Queen? Richard Simmons has a biopic? You know, asinine quips like that), I was really excited for this film that I had wanted to see for as long as it’s been out. I was finally in a place to watch it and really feel like I could appreciate what it was trying to tell the audience.

Again, the parallels between how this sounds and the way Helen Mirren portrayed a tortured figure hell-bent on maintaining her set of rules, regulations and tradition seems very close. At least to me. And while the final five minutes or so seemed sort of preachy and forced all of the gray areas to be filled with either white or black, the overall performance and pace of the entire production was well executed.

Technically speaking, the way the film took subtle attempts at humor to extenuate The Queen’s demeanor was remarkable. Mirren played Her Majesty with a quiet dignity that was questioned by her subjects throughout; the filmmakers took this chance to question that dignity (even openly mock it at times). Mirren’s Queen personified a “business as usual” establishment and a light beat down it to prove that that isn’t the only way to accomplish what you want done.

Besides the mundane humor, the music was the best thing the film had going for it. The “who-dun-it” atmosphere that it connoted was brilliant because the story really was a mystery at its heart. Whether that mystery was “why does she act/feel this way?” Or “when will she evolve with her people?” it left you wondering how it would all play out. (Which is even more of an accomplishment since you probably already knew the timeline.)

To a degree, this was one of the most ingenious biopics I have seen. Not because of what I have laid in the previous paragraphs, but because the entire movie could have actually been mistaken for a biopic about Princess Diana as opposed to a film solely about the Queen. Yes, it was done under the guise of a triumphant transformation and image/legacy-solidifying story about a woman who really wanted nothing to do with her. But the driving character in the film, the one whom everyone else reacted to, was Diana.

To that point however, perhaps it is the only way that a Diana movie could be made? When you think about it, everyone loved her unconditionally (“People’s Princess”) except the Royal Family. The Queen was the one who harbored completely legitimate feelings and resentment toward Diana for what she “gave up.” Or hell, to be more elementary about it, Diana is the woman who left her son. Not many in-laws still keep those types of people in a positive light.

By the end of the movie though, I didn’t care to learn more about Diana. I wanted another hour of the Queen.

Say your at a party and you see a pretty girl, but since she’s already talking to someone you decide to start talking to her friend because at least you know that at some point in the night the pretty girl will end up walking over. Now, you can’t talk to the friend about the pretty girl, you need to seem interested in her or else she’ll whiff your ruse. Except the more you listen, the more you want to know about her, and conversely, the less you start to care about the pretty girl. It’s become apparent that while she‘s everything you thought, the friend has so many layers that she proves to be the more interesting of the two.

Because of the atmosphere the film develops, The Queen lends itself to many comparisons. Intentionally and unintentionally. Whether it’s my inept “girl-at-a-party” scenario; the fairly calm “she-is-the-stag” scenario they highlight throughout her tortured decision-making process; or, at the end of the film, the forced “she-doesn’t-know-any-better-just-like-all-old-generations-of-government-and-society-alike” scenario that was crammed down your throat like you were an eight year-old staring at a dinner plate full of tomatoes.

I don’t really know how to finish this since I was pulled in so many different directions. Normally I would be able to concisely commit to a train of thought and deliver. However, since it was really about three movies in one, I’m not sure I yet know how to do it justice. But maybe that’s how it should be approached? Carefully. Cautiously, so as not to appear over zealous or out of touch with the message it portrayed. Another not-so-subtle comparison to its main character? Sure. But definitely an appropriate, and dignified, decision that could eventually be understood.