Since I work nearly every Sunday, Dr. A and I don't get to the movies as much as we used to. Also, movies for grownups are getting rarer and rarer all the time: the best dramas for people like us have gravitated to cable teevee. Mercifully, it's the holiday season so there are actually several flicks worth checking out. So, we started with The King's Speech.
In a word, this film is great. Yeah, I know that I'm a notorious Anglophile but I'm also a small-r republican so I don't automatically swoon for a story about the British royals. (Dr. A, however, *does* swoon over Colin Firth.) This tale of the stammering Duke of York who became the much loved George VI is a winner. The scenes between Firth and Geoffrey Rush who plays Lionel Logue the King's self-trained speech therapist are pure bliss. Lionel insists that the two men have to be equals so he calls HRH, Bertie. The two bond and the King to be is able to tame his speech defect. The ending is worth the price of admission by itself.
There are several delicious bits of casting. Derek Jacobi, who played one of the most famous stammerers of all time in I, Claudius, plays the pompous Archbishop. Anthony Andrews who has played both the wayward Edward VIII and George VI in the past plays Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who played a key role in the unmaking of the twitty Edward VIII and the making of the underrated George VI.
Anyway, if you're in the mood for some quality entertainment or if you just have a crush on Colin Firth or Helena Bonham Carter, check this flick out. I give it an A or 4 stars if you're keeping score.
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I'm so there, then - I need quality entertainment, am a bit of an Anglophile (genetic background not a small factor), and Colin "Mr. Darcy" Firth - hells to the yeah! :)
Plus, it has received y'all's thumbs-up, it's got to be good.
Posted by: Elspeth Ravenwind | December 28, 2010 at 13:11
Adrastos, I could not agree more. I came out of the movie theater on a high. For truly excellent adult (not in the sexual sense!) entertainment, the film is an excellent choice. The story, the acting, the sets, everything was just right. A great movie, indeed!
Posted by: Grandmère Mimi | December 28, 2010 at 14:19
The ending was so moving that I was both verklempt and on a high. Great stuff.
Posted by: adrastos | December 28, 2010 at 14:27
i finally saw blind side this week. my list gets longer.
Posted by: pansypoo | December 28, 2010 at 21:22
Historically accurate as well - only difference I found is that Mr. Logue received the MVO (Member of the Victorian Order)the night of the Coronation and the CVO in 1944, so there was a little conflict added for drama in the film. That said, the cinematography was stunning in the final sequence, like a series of paintings of life at the end of empire. GR VI also died much too young from the lung cancer from the cigarettes his "doctors" prescribed.
Posted by: jimintampa | January 02, 2011 at 14:34