The Queen
starring: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms, Alex Jennings
directed by: Stephen Frears
directed by: Stephen Frears
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Product Description:
A revealing, witty portrait of the British royal family in crisis immediately following the death of Princess Diana. The setting for this fictional account of real events is no less than the private chambers of the Royal Family and the British government in the wake of the sudden death of Princess Diana in August of 1997.In the immediate aftermath of the Princess's passing, the tightly contained, tradition-bound world of the Queen of England clashes with the slick modernity of the country's brand new, image-conscious Prime Minister, Tony Blair.The result is an intimate, yet thematically epic, battle between private and public, responsibility and emotion, custom and action - as a grieving nation waits to see what its leaders will do.
Amazon.com:
Helen Mirren reigns supreme in The Queen, a witty and ingenious look at a moment that rocked the house of Windsor: the week that followed the sudden death of Princess Diana in 1997. Diana's death came at just the same time that Prime Minister Tony Blair (played by the bright Michael Sheen) was settling into his new government--and trying to figure out the delicate relationship between 10 Downing Street and Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren). A large portion of the British population was trying to figure out the Windsors that week, as Elizabeth remained stiff-upper-lip and largely mum about the death of the beloved princess. In Peter Morgan's skillful script, we watch as Blair grows increasingly impatient with the Royals, who are sequestered in their Scottish estate while the public demands some show of grief. Prince Philip (James Cromwell, in good form) clumsily decides to take Diana's sons hunting, while a sympathetically-treated Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) displays some frustration with his mother's eerie calm.
None of this conveys how funny the film is, or how deftly it flows from one scene to the next. Director Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things) deserves great credit for that, and for the performances, and for the movie's marvelous sense of well-roundedness; you could see this movie and groan at the cluelessness of the Royals and their outmoded existence, or you might just sympathize with showing reserve in a world that values gross public displays of emotion. But either way, you'll marvel at Mirren, who makes the Queen far more alert and human than one might ever have imagined. --Robert Horton
Beyond The Queen
Stills from The Queen (click for larger image)
A revealing, witty portrait of the British royal family in crisis immediately following the death of Princess Diana. The setting for this fictional account of real events is no less than the private chambers of the Royal Family and the British government in the wake of the sudden death of Princess Diana in August of 1997.In the immediate aftermath of the Princess's passing, the tightly contained, tradition-bound world of the Queen of England clashes with the slick modernity of the country's brand new, image-conscious Prime Minister, Tony Blair.The result is an intimate, yet thematically epic, battle between private and public, responsibility and emotion, custom and action - as a grieving nation waits to see what its leaders will do.
Amazon.com:
Helen Mirren reigns supreme in The Queen, a witty and ingenious look at a moment that rocked the house of Windsor: the week that followed the sudden death of Princess Diana in 1997. Diana's death came at just the same time that Prime Minister Tony Blair (played by the bright Michael Sheen) was settling into his new government--and trying to figure out the delicate relationship between 10 Downing Street and Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren). A large portion of the British population was trying to figure out the Windsors that week, as Elizabeth remained stiff-upper-lip and largely mum about the death of the beloved princess. In Peter Morgan's skillful script, we watch as Blair grows increasingly impatient with the Royals, who are sequestered in their Scottish estate while the public demands some show of grief. Prince Philip (James Cromwell, in good form) clumsily decides to take Diana's sons hunting, while a sympathetically-treated Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) displays some frustration with his mother's eerie calm.
None of this conveys how funny the film is, or how deftly it flows from one scene to the next. Director Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things) deserves great credit for that, and for the performances, and for the movie's marvelous sense of well-roundedness; you could see this movie and groan at the cluelessness of the Royals and their outmoded existence, or you might just sympathize with showing reserve in a world that values gross public displays of emotion. But either way, you'll marvel at Mirren, who makes the Queen far more alert and human than one might ever have imagined. --Robert Horton
Beyond The Queen
 The British are Coming! Kings & Queens on DVD |  Helen Mirren Essential DVDs |  The Queen: Music From the Motion Picture by Alexandre Desplat |
Stills from The Queen (click for larger image)
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- A movie fit for a queen
"Nowadays, people want glamour and tears, the grand performance. I'm not very good at that. I never have been. I prefer to keep my feelings to myself." -- Queen Elizabeth II
Retaining the dignified privacy that's typical of England's royal family versus showing feelings to an upset and saddened British public that craves monarchial comfort and emotion -- those are the difficult options facing Queen Elizabeth II after Princess Diana's sudden death in this spellbinding ... Read More
Rating: 
- The sentiments are correct, ambiguous.
This film depicts the feeling of ambiguity that was generated around the hysterical mourning for Diana Spencer. It also suggests, correctly,in a powerful way, that the impact that public opinion had which forced the Royal's response, the demand for a public display of emotion, had a fundamentally debilitating effect on people's views of the Monarchy. That the Queen actually gave the public address as her own decision, rather than from the advice of Tony Blair (as suggested in the film), would be more ... Read More
Rating: - We Liked It!!!
Watched this movie with family members, young and old, who thought it would be "boring and dumb".SURPRISE!!!We ALL liked it!It had a little of everything; humor, drama, suspense, history, great acting and gave us another faceted look into the life of the Royals!We did expect it to cover the life of the Queen, a little more extensively, but still found it well worth watching.We would buy this movie again.
Rating: - Great acting, Great Writing. Great movie. Terrible director
The movie was excellent... even for those of us who did not care for the way the Royal family treated Princess Di. Helen Mirren gave an Oscar winning, tasteful, believable performance. I also think the part of Philip was right on the nose. His malice and narrow minded, out of touch arrogance was perfectly portrayed in this movie. It was nice to see that his personality was not soft-soaped.
The writing and portrayal of Tony Blair was very compelling. It seemed like most of the movie was ... Read More
Rating: - Helen Mirren finally gets her Oscar!!!
She finally got her Oscar,well done Helen Mirren,Her peformance in the Queen is worthy of buying this alone,this is one of the recent films I actually went to a theater to go see,I pretty much knew she was gonna get the little gold statue wa before Oscar time!!! The Queen is a great film, along with Mirren's incredible preformance I think that Michael Sheen and James Cromwell(who doe a great British accent by the way,considering he's American!) did a great job as well!!! I'm glad this DVD is in my collection,and ... Read More
- A movie fit for a queen"Nowadays, people want glamour and tears, the grand performance. I'm not very good at that. I never have been. I prefer to keep my feelings to myself." -- Queen Elizabeth II
Retaining the dignified privacy that's typical of England's royal family versus showing feelings to an upset and saddened British public that craves monarchial comfort and emotion -- those are the difficult options facing Queen Elizabeth II after Princess Diana's sudden death in this spellbinding ... Read More
- The sentiments are correct, ambiguous.This film depicts the feeling of ambiguity that was generated around the hysterical mourning for Diana Spencer. It also suggests, correctly,in a powerful way, that the impact that public opinion had which forced the Royal's response, the demand for a public display of emotion, had a fundamentally debilitating effect on people's views of the Monarchy. That the Queen actually gave the public address as her own decision, rather than from the advice of Tony Blair (as suggested in the film), would be more ... Read More
- We Liked It!!!Watched this movie with family members, young and old, who thought it would be "boring and dumb".SURPRISE!!!We ALL liked it!It had a little of everything; humor, drama, suspense, history, great acting and gave us another faceted look into the life of the Royals!We did expect it to cover the life of the Queen, a little more extensively, but still found it well worth watching.We would buy this movie again.
- Great acting, Great Writing. Great movie. Terrible directorThe movie was excellent... even for those of us who did not care for the way the Royal family treated Princess Di. Helen Mirren gave an Oscar winning, tasteful, believable performance. I also think the part of Philip was right on the nose. His malice and narrow minded, out of touch arrogance was perfectly portrayed in this movie. It was nice to see that his personality was not soft-soaped.
The writing and portrayal of Tony Blair was very compelling. It seemed like most of the movie was ... Read More
- Helen Mirren finally gets her Oscar!!!She finally got her Oscar,well done Helen Mirren,Her peformance in the Queen is worthy of buying this alone,this is one of the recent films I actually went to a theater to go see,I pretty much knew she was gonna get the little gold statue wa before Oscar time!!! The Queen is a great film, along with Mirren's incredible preformance I think that Michael Sheen and James Cromwell(who doe a great British accent by the way,considering he's American!) did a great job as well!!! I'm glad this DVD is in my collection,and ... Read More
