The Queen
Director: Stephen Frears
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 1.5
Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the Royal Family take serious flack from the public and media in the days for reacting callously towards the death of Princess Diana in Paris, forcing the Queen to actually step outside her opulent palace and humor the stupid peasants with her presence. Essentially, this is the work of an apologist (and here I had a shred of respect for Frears), defending the disgusting privilege and absurd wealth of the Monarchy, 'praising' the Queen for remaining 'true to herself' - it becomes all the more pointed whenever Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) stands up to support Elizabeth in the face of his rational wife, Cherie, and cutthroat staff. Helen Mirren is good, but the performance of hers I will cherish forever is the one in which she's completely naked and surrounded by fish and steam and her boyfriend in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.
