Poetic Tragedy: My review of the King's Speech

To determine the life of a Royal has been, assumed, as a hard task. But with more recent cinematic endevours such as the Queen (2006) proving to be successful in box office results and awards, its a dead cert that the trend can continue. Lets face it, us Brits are suckers for a Royal drama. The BBC's most recent adaptation of Bleak House was critically well received and who can forget Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy back in the late 80s, emerging from the pond and certifying his role as a posterboy for a Royal generation? It's his latest film, The King's Speech, that has been drawing all the attention of movie-goers and to be honest, rightly fucking so. 

Posting a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and enduring all the pre-Oscar buzz for literally what has felt like months, The King's Speech depicts the story of Prince Albert, Duke of York or "Bertie" as his family know him, in his attempts to cure his stammer and recover his flawed reputation. Beginning with the 1925 Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium, director Tom Hooper establishes the story immediately. Faced with a huge crowd as well as the listening ears of the nation, Bertie breaks down as his stammer overcomes him and visibly unsettles the crowd. 

Upon the insistence of his wife, soon-to-be Queen Elizabeth played amazingly by Helena Bonham Carter, he visits Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist living in London played by Geoffrey Rush. Logue is known for his somewhat unusual and often controversial techniques and much of the films humour derives from the conversations that occur between Firth and Rush's characters. Attempting to embrace a friendship and understand Bertie's issues, the two continue to make amends as Bertie faces many problems such as the death of his father, King George V and the womanising ways of his brother, David, who would become King Edward VIII.


As previously stated, awards buzz for this film has been rife for months since its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 4th September and focus greatly upon the performance of Firth himself. This, I can say having now seen it, is totally justified. Firth embodies the troubled persona of Bertie wonderfully, in his body language as well as his mannerisms which lead to his stammer. There are many heart-wrenching moments that Firth truly makes believable such as his reluctancy to tell his daughters a bedtime story due to his stammer and the moment where he reveals the pressures of his childhood; his strict father, his natural left-handedness and his neglection at the hands of a nanny who greatly favoured his brother David. Its truly heart-breaking and Firth handles the subject matter with authenticity and care. I will be immensely surprised if he doesn't walk away with the Best Actor this year as its thoroughly deserved.


That said, without Carter and Rush's character, Firth wouldn't have an emotional core or at least one the audience can relate to. Not only was I convinced Carter was the Queen Mother, but I couldn't believe this was Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter series or Marla Singer from David Fincher's Fight Club. She embodies the role of any character shes wishes to play, evil or good, better or worse. She is, I believe, one of the best actresses of her time and I really wish the Academy acknowledge this with a Best Supporting Actress nomination come the announcement.


Onto Rush, whom without the film would not be humourous in any form. He is the comic relief, if you will, for the film's otherwise strong and topical subject matter. I'm not trying to play the film off as a comedy. Far from it. But at times, films such as the King's Speech need a relief from the hardship that occurs on-screen and Rush is simply brilliant. Often engaging in dialogue-orientated sparing matches with Firth, the two create a fabolous chemistry that excels into humour; a scene worth mentioning involves Rush's character persuading Firth to swear in an attempt to make him relieve some of the pressure on him. I gotta say, I was genuinely laughing at this scene and so was most of the cinema, who were of the older generation and wouldn't be caught dead repeating the words that coming from Firth's mouth. But in the context of the scene, the audience understood the humour behind and it works splendidly. 


On a different note, I can easily see Tom Hooper receiving a Best Director nod because of the films great success. I urge the Academy to think otherwise. This is a performer's film. No doubt, a greatly directed period piece by Hooper, I just don't feel there is anything artisticly different or something that stands out that he has placed in his film. Maybe some other time, Hooper but not just yet.

This is Firth's film. And I wouldn't have it any other way.


Up next, The Green Hornet in (not-so) spectacular 3D!!!