The King's Speech

The Kings Speech 2011

F..f..Firth's f..f..finest hour

Do not allow this film to pass you by. Do whatever you have to do - beg, steal or preferably buy a ticket - but do not miss The King's Speech, the latest offering from director Tom Hooper, starring Colin Firth as King George VI, Helen Bonham Carter as his wife, Elisabeth, the Queen Mother and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, a little-known, Australian, speech therapist. Despite too much gushing, the critics were right; it is stunning, and for once it is a "must see movie".

The movie works on a number of levels. At its most simple, it tells the story of Logue's unorthodox attempts to cure a royal patient of his stammer. Initially reluctant, Bertie, as he was known to his family, gradually warms to this seemingly knowledgeable, progressive and confident Australian and the buds of an unlikely friendship slowly develop.

But Logue is careless and crosses the threshold between commoner and King, invading his privacy and forgetting his place. Bertie, for his part, has his mind elsewhere. Not only does he lament his brother David's (Guy Pearce) increasingly indiscrete philandering with Wallis Simpson (Eve Best) but he resents David's total lack of focus on state affairs. Abdication for love is one thing, dereliction of duty quite another.

In 1936 therefore, when Edward VIII finally crossed the constitutional rubicon, Bertie was prepared albeit neither ready nor willing - "I'm a naval officer not a King", he bemoans to his wife. With Hitler in the West and Stalin in the East and an unstable domestic political environment (successive prime ministerial resignations - including a brief but powerful cameo from Anthony Andrews as Stanley Baldwin) - Bertie was convinced; Britain needed its monarchy like never before.

Firth is, quite simply, magnificent growing before our eyes from an insecure wretch to the supreme monarch George VI was ultimately to become. But the insecurity remains, deep in his eyes, ever ready to surface. Director Hooper marshals his illustrious troops with no little skill. Bonham Carter and Rush are equally impressive - the former, her finest role in years and what chemistry with Firth - the latter, one of 4 co-producers - a curious but powerful combination of confident therapist and impudent commoner. Derek Jacobi turns in his usual competent performance as a powerful and meddling Archbishop of Canterbury unctuously ingratiating himself into the royal household but with little success. Michael Gambon is similarly striking as Bertie's father, George V. But make no mistake, this is Firth's film from beginning to end. It is both interesting and heartening to note that Logue was at Bertie's side throughout all of his wartime speeches and the two remained friends even after the war.

Verdict
Outstanding period drama. 10/10.

Dick Morgan
January 2011