The King's Speech (2010)
Directed by Tom Hooper
The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stutter and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.
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The push-pull of this relationship recalls the dynamic between Nigel Hawthorne and Ian Holm in The Madness of King George; like that previous George, Albert must seem a king, not by becoming sane but by speaking clearly.
Peeks behind the velvet curtain at scenes of royal travail can be involving, witness 1994's "The Madness of King George," and this story is exceptionally moving as well.
It is the work of a highly talented group of artists who might be regarded as British realists – Tom Hooper directed the soccer epic The Damned United ; Eve Stewart was production designer on Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy and Vera Drake ; Jenny Beavan was responsible for the costumes worn in Gosford Park and The Remains of the Day ; the cinematographer Danny Cohen lit Shane Meadows's This is England and Dead Man's Shoes ; Tariq Anwar's editing credits range from The Madness of King George to American Beauty ; and the screenplay is by the British writer David Seidler, who co-wrote Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream .
Perhaps the best way to describe the way Firth inhabits the character is to recall Helen Mirren's astounding turn in The Queen .
In this sense, The King's Speech is an altogether more significant and ambitious work than Stephen Frears's admirable The Queen of 2006 and far transcends any political arguments about royalty and republicanism.
Working from the British-royalty-biopic template perfected by Peter Morgan ( The Deal , The Queen ), The King’s Speech provides a cute, complication-free portrait of the Duke of York (Colin Firth), who would eventually become King George VI of England, and his difficulty overcoming a lifelong stammer.
Like The Queen (2006) , its a story about the effect of ordinary people on the vitality of the monarchy and, specifically in the case of The Kings Speech , how a sympathetic teacher befriended a reluctant king and helped him overcome his fears and disabilities to help lead the free world to victory over Hitler and his Nazi army.
Its themes are courage (where it comes from, how it is used), responsibility, and the necessity to place duty above personal pleasure or contentment – the subjects, in fact, of such enduringly popular movies as Casablanca and High Noon.
That's Claire Bloom ("The Haunting," "Crimes and Misdemeanors") as Bertie's formal mother Queen Mary.
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Hooper's feel-good storytelling recalls Jeffrey Blitz's "Rocket Science," which revolved around a stutterer engaged in high school debate competitions, but the sunny vibes seem out of place in the context of British royalty.
Running through rhythmic calisthenics and Olympic-level tongue twisters ("I'm a thistle sifter"), Rush and Firth might as well be Ian Holm and Ben Cross in Chariots of Fire.
Having set the precedent for Bertie's tongue twisted agony, Hooper and screenwriter David Seidler ("Tucker: The Man and His Dream") leap ahead to show the man's continuing embarrassment as a doctor advises him that smoking is relaxation for the larynx and coaxes him to read with a mouthful of marbles.
Screenwriter David Seidler ("Tucker: The Man and His Dream") also has been suffering in silence for some time; a stutterer himself, he researched and planned this project for years, but held off -- reportedly at the Queen Mum's request -- until her death, at 101, in 2002.
The terrific screenplay written by David Seidler (“Tucker: The Man and His Dream”) gives the entire cast great lines to speak and memorable situations to work through.
Seidler is a veteran screenwriter whose credits include "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" and three Writers Guild nominations for television features.
It is the work of a highly talented group of artists who might be regarded as British realists – Tom Hooper directed the soccer epic The Damned United ; Eve Stewart was production designer on Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy and Vera Drake ; Jenny Beavan was responsible for the costumes worn in Gosford Park and The Remains of the Day ; the cinematographer Danny Cohen lit Shane Meadows's This is England and Dead Man's Shoes ; Tariq Anwar's editing credits range from The Madness of King George to American Beauty ; and the screenplay is by the British writer David Seidler, who co-wrote Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream .
I cannot speak to the particulars of speech therapy, but it seems convenient that, according to “The King’s Speech,” speech therapy mirrors the psychological theatrics of “Ordinary People” or “Good Will Hunting” or….or….let’s…
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Like “The King’s Speech” last year, “Rain Man” saw its stars align, released just in time to keep a wave of buzz that helped it win the Oscar.
Colin Firth, as Bertie, gives the sort of technically elaborate performance that causes Oscar statues to do flips of joy (think of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man ).
Firth�s performance, which initially seems like it might delve into productive terrain, never evolves beyond a gimmick (if he wins an Oscar for this, it will be Rain Man all over again).
Like some stars before him — Daniel Day-Lewis in “My Left Foot,” Ian McKellen in “Richard III” — he has created not the mere study of an infirmity but the drama of a man trapped inside one, fighting ferociously to emerge.