Hannah's Pick: The King's Speech

I don't know how many other folk have attempted to write and publicly post a movie review, but sometimes it can be darn hard.  You can sit and look at the computer screen for an hour and have no idea of where the review will take the reader, and that is because you have no idea where the film took you.  You may write a line or two, and after five minutes of squintingly staring at the monitor with furrowed brow, you hit the backspace button until you are met once again with the all encompassing whiteness of a blank document, only to try and start the process over once again.

And then sometimes you see a film that offers so much that you can not imagine where to even start, and figuring out where to stop is even harder.  Such a movie was The King's Speech.

There are times when I sit down to watch a movie and within the first five minutes I have a clear idea that I am seeing something special, a work of art that stands very far above its peers.  Some years a movie wins the Academy Award for best picture and you debate the decision or can think of a slew of other masterful films that could have been acceptable choices as well.  Well, in 2010 Tom Hooper's film The King's Speech was clearly the best of the pack, and is a movie that people will be enjoying for years and years from now.

The film is about the second son of King George V, The Duke of York (Colin Firth) who has a very problematic stammer which makes communication quite troublesome.  While for you and I this would only equal occasional embarrassment, we get a feel for the gravity of this problem in the very first scene of the movie as he is making a speech in front of a full house at Wembley Stadium at the close of the British Empire Exhibition, and it is being broadcast around the world.  This is the Prince Albert whom we first meet, in utter pain of his affliction, but unable to avoid his obligations as royalty.

We then find Prince Albert getting speech therapy and reaching his limits, determined to never go through the painful process of a therapy that never brings results.  His wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) has visible pain for her husband, and continues a search for a speech therapist who can help the Prince.  She is referred to a man from Australia with unconventional methods named Lionel Logue (Geoffry Rush) who says that he will take him on as a client, with no idea that it is a member of the royal family.

This is where the movie gets incredibly interesting, because Logue's methods are ones that he refuses to yield on, and they are ones that a royal would have never had to tolerate.  Logue refuses to do the lessons in any location other than his extremely simple workspace, and insists that in the speech room he and his client are absolute equals.  Prince Albert then has to slowly start letting his guard down, the wall of posture and perception that has been groomed into his whole life, giving up his royal qualities and entitlements in pursuit of a goal that has eluded all other attempts.

The interesting thing about how this movie is shot is that it primarily takes place indoors, and a lot of it is spent in small, elementary rooms.  This is because the movie is not about The Duke of York as a royal, but one about Bertie, the name that only his family calls him.  The small spaces and basic locations allow for a separation from the life that he was born into, and a canvas for a path of self discovery, an attempt to gain confidence in who he is as an individual first before the emphasis on his royal qualities.  We see a slow disarming of the man as he slowly abandons his formalities and eventually begins speaking like an everyday person, except for the stammer.

As the film progresses, we find out that King George V (Michael Gambon) has passed away and the role is passed to the oldest son, the Prince of Wales (Guy Pearce) who is now head of the monarchy.  His life, however, is surrounded with a scandalous relationship and there begins talk of the the Duke of York becoming King.  This shifting in plot allows us to see further into Firth's character, who is pained by his life as royalty because of his speech impediment.  The thought of becoming King is a nightmare to him as the symbol of the monarchy is no longer just to show up at public events, but with the invention of the radio, to speak to the people, enter their homes and bring them a sense of unity.  The most important task of the King was something that the Duke fears the most.

It is almost two hours, and has almost no scenery.  It is ninety percent dialogue in small rooms.  That may not sound exciting or inviting, but it really is one of the greatest pleasures to watch.  Because there are no distractions, we get to peer into the lives of characters who begin to seem real to us.  We start to feel that we no longer know the Duke of York, but we know Bertie, a loving husband and father.  The script is such that we are happily pulled from conversation to conversation, and getting a true sense of emotional connection not to just the people but to the situation of the royal family as a whole, and the impending war that they are facing with Germany.

A dialogue based movie would be nothing without great performers, and this film is full of them.  Colin Firth gives us such a multi-dimensional performance, and allows the feelings of his character to transcend the screen and reach our hearts.  Geoffry Rush plays the role of Logue impeccably, and is able to present a believable character who could disarm and draw out the real man hidden inside the Duke.  The role that I found the most touching was Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Elizabeth, who is an energetic spitfire at times, but shows nothing but absolute support and devotion to her hurting husband.  What spouse could want more than that, as we toil about in the agonizing absolutes of life, to have someone smile and instil a genuine confidence that allows us to see it through to the next day?

This is turning into a very lengthy review, and I have not even got to the style of framing the character's faces, putting the blank space behind their heads instead of in front of them.  I have still not come to a conclusion as to why Tom Hooper did this, but part of me feels that it is because the characters are small members of the greater story and that style keeps them a little more noticeably off to the side.  Small and large are almost themes of this film, so this style would allow the characters in close quarters to be seen as small and that gets contrasted when we get the few glimpses of them in their royal duties.

Do I recommend this film?  Most definitely I do.  It is a masterpiece, a film that shows you can have a simple plot, simple locations, and still create the most captivating film of the year.  I have seen it twice now, and if Rachel was up for watching it again tonight, I would have no hesitation.  Perhaps that is because of the unrelenting focus on the characters.  We see the individuals in their natural light and feel like perhaps we have made a new friend or two.  It is very fitting that for a movie that spends all of its time in doors and away from the royal life and it ends with Bertie finally stepping confidently into his role as King and standing before his cheering subjects in a very powerful and inspiring way, a book end to the disastrous speech he delivers at the beginning.  We are witness to the metamorphosis of the character who became great by allowing himself to become an equal with a common man.

Rating - 4 out of 4 Stars