'Queen' Explores the Center
Of British Power and Sentiment
© By Kevin Paquet, 2006

The television program "The West Wing" garnered much praise for its dynamic depiction of life inside a political bureaucracy at the mercy of the citizenry. The whole executive branch was a kind of vortex, spinning harder and harder near the center of power.

The movie now playing in Randolph, "The Queen," depicts the British Prime Minister's job in much the way "The West Wing" depicted the President's. However, Prime Minister Tony Blair has the additional problem of the counter-vortex that is the British Monarchy.

Blair and Queen Elizabeth are the hearts of their respective systems, and as the film unfolds, they are forced to come to an agreement over what to do about Princess Diana.

The year is 1997, and the film opens in May. Tony Blair, having been elected Prime Minister, meets with the Queen after a briefing on the mechanics of royal formality. The purpose of the meeting is for the Queen (played by Helen Mirren) to ask Blair (Michael Sheen) to form a government.

The Queen doesn't particularly like Blair, but makes what she feels is a decent effort at courtesy; Mrs. Blair, on the other hand, voices annoyed confusion at the brevity of the Queen's audience.

The stage having been set, the film skips to August, and the death of Princess Diana in a car crash. Diana, though divorced from Prince Charles and thus no longer a member of the royal family, is still a highly public figure. The nation grieves, and the Prime Minister and the Queen, surrounded by their respective fleets of supporters, are at odds over how Diana's funeral should be treated.

Prime Minister Blair is young. He is shown coming to power under the banner of modernization, and everything about him carries this feeling. His is a modern office, staffed by modern people who think in terms of poll numbers. His victory is described as "landslide;" and his popularity is said to grow following Diana's death. As Prime Minister, he knows himself to be what the people want.

Queen Elizabeth is old. She politely tells Blair, when swearing him in, that he is the latest in a succession she has sworn in, starting with Winston Churchill. The rooms through which the Queen roams are filled with old books and rotary phones. She frequently consults with her mother and her husband, who back her up when she refuses to violate traditions for the sake of honoring Diana. As Queen, she knows herself to be what the people want.

What to do?

This film is basically about two people who have very different ideas on how to help the British people mourn. The movie's path flips back and forth between the two camps as they each approach the situation the way they see fit, and how they are ultimately forced to reexamine each other in a new light.

Bonus points for the Queen's mother, the deer, and Blair's botching of his initial meeting with the Queen. Kevin gives it four stars out of five.