Helen Mirren is coming
Here's a taste of Stephen Frears' The Queen (Miramax, 10.6), which will open the New York Film Festival in late September. The big selling point is Helen Mirren's performance as Queen Elizabeth, which will probably put her into the Best Actress derby. She's sublime in the role. Mirren is obviously inhabiting Queen Elizabeth in ways that feel true and well-observed. Her performance is necessarily dry, restrained and reserved, as befits the subject, but she acquaints us with a woman who feels a lot more human than anything I've ever detected from the real McCoy.
The film is set in September 1997 and deals with various responses (governmental, royal, personal) to the death of Diana, former Princess of Wales. The Queen is about how the devastation that the British people were feeling about this tragedy finally, after days of disdain and indifference (and with the proddings of Prime Minister Tony Blair), got through to Queen Elizabeth, who heretofore believed that her role was to maintain dignity and decorum at all times and never expose the woman within. No longer!
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 27, 2006 at 5:25 PM
comment #1
le corbeau
says ...
Helen Mirren for Best Actress! What a great idea. One of those actresses who's just been spot on for years and years with an incredible range-- zaftig hippie chick in Age of Consent, hot half-Russian mama in things like 2010 and White Nights, seriously badass Morgan Le Fay in Excalibur, tough-as-nails copper in Prime Suspect, a real person in one of Peter Greenaway's orgiastic fantasias, and on and on-- less showy and more real in each case than Oscar fave Judy Dench or Olivier-hammy Joan Plowright. I'd love to see it happen, even if I suspect she's one of those who's simply too good to ever win an Oscar.
Mike Gebert
Posted by le corbeau
at August 27, 2006 6:38 PM
comment #2
le corbeau
says ...
Damn trailer makes it look like an afterschool special, though. I'll assume it's actually more intelligent, and doesn't spell out its points quite so obviously.
And being a Miramax movie based on history, it will have to start with an explanatory credit crawl explaining everything to people who haven't a clue:
1997. It is a time of change for England.
Queen Elizabeth II has ruled since 1952. Her son, Prince Charles, has recently been divorced from his much more popular wife, Princess Diana...
Posted by le corbeau
at August 27, 2006 6:54 PM
comment #3
Patrick
says ...
She should've been up for 'The Cook, The Thief,
His Wife, and Her Lover,' 'The Long Good Friday'
and 'Excalibur'
Posted by Patrick
at August 27, 2006 7:43 PM
comment #4
VanDyck
says ...
There's a certain element to this trailer, a kind of very direct representation of the modern English decline that makes this very compelling.
I think I'll have to wait until more comes out about this to pass proper judgement though, its going on my to-watch list.
Posted by VanDyck
at August 27, 2006 11:20 PM
comment #5
KevinSmith
says ...
Hate to derail this topic, but...
http://viewaskew.com/theboard/viewtopic.php?p=1744859#1744859
Posted by KevinSmith
at August 27, 2006 11:34 PM
comment #6
Rich S.
says ...
In a weird bit of synchronicity, Mirren has already won a Best Actress award for playing Queen Elizabeth. She won the Emmy for playing Elizabeth I in the HBO miniseries.
Posted by Rich S.
at August 28, 2006 5:00 AM
comment #7
Sid Yobbo
says ...
Can't say I liked the trailer all that much. Feels rather pompous and overwrought although that may be more the fault of the heavy handed music they've slathered over practically every shot. Hope the film is more restrained. Stephen Frears comes from UK television and on the whole I still think that's where he belongs. As for Helen Mirren, is there a feminist actress as stuffily self-important as she is? Probably, but it's hard to think of one right now.
Posted by Sid Yobbo
at August 28, 2006 6:09 AM
comment #8
Merlyn
says ...
BWAHAHAHAHA!
Nice morning chuckle, sir.
Posted by Merlyn
at August 28, 2006 7:14 AM
comment #9
le corbeau
says ...
"As for Helen Mirren, is there a feminist actress as stuffily self-important as she is?"
But on the other hand, is there one more willing to shed her clothes regardless of what she looks like or has to do in the nude (make out in a meat wagon, give birth to Mordred, etc.)?
Miramax trailers tend to beat the point home and then some, that's why I have hope that the movie won't have quite the same tone (or music).
Posted by le corbeau
at August 28, 2006 8:56 AM
comment #10
nemo
says ...
"As for Helen Mirren, is there a feminist actress as stuffily self-important as she is?"
?!? Let me guess. Once upon a time, a very long time ago, in some obscure interview in some obscure publication, Helen Mirren made some statement that perhaps could be construed as vaguely feminist, and Sid Yobbo still has never recovered from the offense and the trauma of reading it.
Posted by nemo
at August 28, 2006 9:11 AM
comment #11
T. S. Idiot
says ...
Mirren offers some of the least-self-conscious, erotically charged nudity ever in Michael Powell's Age of Consent. Hussy, recently released on DVD, is awful, but there's plenty of Mirren flesh in its prime.
Posted by T. S. Idiot
at August 28, 2006 10:07 AM
comment #12
Josh Martin
says ...
Cromwell as Prince Philip is casting genius. GENIUS, I say. But the actress playing the Queen Mother is over three decades too young for the part and looks it. Too bad they dropped the ball there, at the very least they could've scored Best Makeup.
Posted by Josh Martin
at August 28, 2006 4:26 PM