{feelings} the kings's speech
WHERE TO BEGIN. Warning, this is going to be all over the place, not so strong on an analytical score and all about my feelings.
I've been waiting for this to be released for what feels like forever - I didn't get tickets to see it at the LFF so I had to wait until, well, now. I think as far as first film watched at the cinema this year goes, this is going to be hard to beat. This film gave me all the feelings, it was just so brilliantly done.
I knew going in that this was a ~serious drama and that it was bound to give me feelings, but feelings of the predominantly heart-clutching kind. What I didn't expect is a) how visceral those feelings would be but also b) how funny it was. It is focused on a struggle, on an impediment that has been affected by years of repression, on a war and what it is to be a country (and a leader) at war. But all the way through there were these absolutely delightful and equally moving moments of levity, of wit and I think it's that blend that really made me sit there and go "This is the best thing I have ever seen."
Let's get this straight, it is a slightly biased, rose-tinted view of Albert and Elizabeth - skipping entirely over Elizabeth's bent towards appeasement and what have you. It also took a really interesting stance on Edward (and by extension Wallis Simpson) in that it made Edward thoroughly unlikeable. I did appreciate how they dealt with Wallis, that the focus wasn't on her so much as someone who ~edged their way into the Prince's heart, but more on what she symbolised for people and the assumptions made about her. As I said, they made Edward difficult to like, made much more interesting by a great performance by Guy Pearce.
Now before I get to the Colin Firth stanning - oh yes there will be stanning - I should probably talk about the other two main actors, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. Helena's role was much smaller than I originally anticipated but what she did have was fabulous. She was fabulously caught on protocol but utterly pragmatic, not in the slightest bit afraid of the task ahead of her. Also it has to be said, she and Colin have wonderful chemistry, really bringing such warmth to the marriage between Albert and Elizabeth (I'm thinking here specfically of the scene in the car on the way to Balmoral, where it's just light and playful and you get to see them free from expectations, however briefly). Geoffrey Rush was equally fantastic. He was so quick and so, I'm not sure this is right but, loose? He made Lionel incredibly easy to be invested in - a bit slapdash, a bit all over the place but with his heart very much in the right place. His dynamic with Colin was actually unbelievable. They played off each other so well, hitting both notes of comedy and real heartbreaking drama.
Which leads me on to just how much I loved the depiction of the friendship between Logue and Bertie. Because these men did become lifelong friends, Logue was there for every speech. I think the biggest moment for me that depicted them was in the pre-coronation rehearsal where Bertie says that Lionel should be seated in the King's box. The Archbishop (played exquisitely by Derek Jacobi as both forceful and sycophantic) remarks that it's the place for his family and Bertie just says, so simply that "That's why it's appropriate." It's not a big moment, Lionel just looks up from his papers and looks grateful and, it just spoke volumes. Especially because it came before the ~revelation that Logue isn't a doctor, another scene I thought was handled really, really well.
Colin's performance was absolutely phenomenal and if he doesn't get the Oscar, the Academy and I are going to have some serious problems. Awards or no awards, its the best performance of his career. Naturally it's astounding to watch him change his voice, to gain a stammer and for it to feel so naturalistic, for it to be a part of him - I was stunned actually by how much that didn't feel like a performance. But he brought such wit and also such great emotional depth to the role. I know that it was down to his performance that I cried. I was on the verge for most of the film in all honesty but the three biggest moments were:
a) the toy plane scene:
not so much for the revelation of the nanny though that was horrible, but more because he is the middle son become the youngest son; the mention of Johnny the lost prince is, I think, when I lost it, but it's all about masculinity, about fathers and sons and the legacy you leave your children and the legacy he has is not just fear and repression but an entire fucking country and the weight of that, knowing that it could be his to handle but told that it isn't, because he's younger. All of that, all of that was played across Colin's face, the pain of that but more the resignation to all of it was right there, in front of me. I actually couldn't. Just started weeping.
b) the post-accession council scene:
The entire time, he looks so lost and when he comes to deliver his speech, he's still halting, still stammering and you can feel his shame, especially as the camera starts to focus on the crowd of MPs. But the moment that got me, was when he came back to his family when they're all packing their things and as he stands there about to hug them, his girls, his little girls stop and curtsey. In that moment, he's no longer their father but the King and you can see it in his face, that he's just realised everything is going to change. That would be when I started crying, which was only compounded by his breakdown in the study when he says "I'm a naval officer, that's all I know!" I'M NOT CRYING IT'S JUST RAINING ON MY FACE.
c) THE LAST LIKE, FIFTEEN MINUTES.
Also I would just like to talk briefly about Bertie and Lionel's reconciliation and how perfectly done that is. How they both acknowledge that the fault lies with both of them. But also how the power dynamic is very briefly altered by Logue's wife returning (HI JENNIFER EHLE). First of all, that was just so well played and hysterical to watch, the genuine fear of Lionel's face and how bemused Bertie is and how he's uncomfortable with just shying away from it. But the dynamic shift in that Bertie is the one to push Lionel forward for once. (Also HBC was actually perfect, how she set down her teacup and waited and then "I hope you won't call me Liz.") MY HEART WAS JUST SO PLEASED.
Obviously this is a film concerned with silencing and what it means to have a voice which is something it handles beautifully. (That scene when Edward mocks Bertie's stammer at Balmoral and he can't say anything in response was just amazing because it perfectly explicated why Bertie is the way he is, not just with the stammer but the way he holds himself.) But more than that, this film is covered with the shadow of the war, of what that entails. You watch this film, waiting for it to break. It covers a time period that was fraught with a lot of panic for Britain, where the monarchy had its make or break moment with modernity and then just after that, or rather caught up in that is the fact that war is looming on the horizon. Bertie is aware, before he is even crowned, that there is a possibility of war. So the speech itself is so important and that's why he panics. It's not just about his voice, but the weight of the fact that he has to announce to his country that they are going to war. Again. And as it plays out, whilst there is a pride in his getting through the speech, it's laden with the knowledge that they have no idea just how bad it's going to get. IDK IDK, I think I lost all coherence a while back but yes. Feelings, feelings, I have so many of them.
I've been waiting for this to be released for what feels like forever - I didn't get tickets to see it at the LFF so I had to wait until, well, now. I think as far as first film watched at the cinema this year goes, this is going to be hard to beat. This film gave me all the feelings, it was just so brilliantly done.
I knew going in that this was a ~serious drama and that it was bound to give me feelings, but feelings of the predominantly heart-clutching kind. What I didn't expect is a) how visceral those feelings would be but also b) how funny it was. It is focused on a struggle, on an impediment that has been affected by years of repression, on a war and what it is to be a country (and a leader) at war. But all the way through there were these absolutely delightful and equally moving moments of levity, of wit and I think it's that blend that really made me sit there and go "This is the best thing I have ever seen."
Let's get this straight, it is a slightly biased, rose-tinted view of Albert and Elizabeth - skipping entirely over Elizabeth's bent towards appeasement and what have you. It also took a really interesting stance on Edward (and by extension Wallis Simpson) in that it made Edward thoroughly unlikeable. I did appreciate how they dealt with Wallis, that the focus wasn't on her so much as someone who ~edged their way into the Prince's heart, but more on what she symbolised for people and the assumptions made about her. As I said, they made Edward difficult to like, made much more interesting by a great performance by Guy Pearce.
Now before I get to the Colin Firth stanning - oh yes there will be stanning - I should probably talk about the other two main actors, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. Helena's role was much smaller than I originally anticipated but what she did have was fabulous. She was fabulously caught on protocol but utterly pragmatic, not in the slightest bit afraid of the task ahead of her. Also it has to be said, she and Colin have wonderful chemistry, really bringing such warmth to the marriage between Albert and Elizabeth (I'm thinking here specfically of the scene in the car on the way to Balmoral, where it's just light and playful and you get to see them free from expectations, however briefly). Geoffrey Rush was equally fantastic. He was so quick and so, I'm not sure this is right but, loose? He made Lionel incredibly easy to be invested in - a bit slapdash, a bit all over the place but with his heart very much in the right place. His dynamic with Colin was actually unbelievable. They played off each other so well, hitting both notes of comedy and real heartbreaking drama.
Which leads me on to just how much I loved the depiction of the friendship between Logue and Bertie. Because these men did become lifelong friends, Logue was there for every speech. I think the biggest moment for me that depicted them was in the pre-coronation rehearsal where Bertie says that Lionel should be seated in the King's box. The Archbishop (played exquisitely by Derek Jacobi as both forceful and sycophantic) remarks that it's the place for his family and Bertie just says, so simply that "That's why it's appropriate." It's not a big moment, Lionel just looks up from his papers and looks grateful and, it just spoke volumes. Especially because it came before the ~revelation that Logue isn't a doctor, another scene I thought was handled really, really well.
Colin's performance was absolutely phenomenal and if he doesn't get the Oscar, the Academy and I are going to have some serious problems. Awards or no awards, its the best performance of his career. Naturally it's astounding to watch him change his voice, to gain a stammer and for it to feel so naturalistic, for it to be a part of him - I was stunned actually by how much that didn't feel like a performance. But he brought such wit and also such great emotional depth to the role. I know that it was down to his performance that I cried. I was on the verge for most of the film in all honesty but the three biggest moments were:
a) the toy plane scene:
not so much for the revelation of the nanny though that was horrible, but more because he is the middle son become the youngest son; the mention of Johnny the lost prince is, I think, when I lost it, but it's all about masculinity, about fathers and sons and the legacy you leave your children and the legacy he has is not just fear and repression but an entire fucking country and the weight of that, knowing that it could be his to handle but told that it isn't, because he's younger. All of that, all of that was played across Colin's face, the pain of that but more the resignation to all of it was right there, in front of me. I actually couldn't. Just started weeping.
b) the post-accession council scene:
The entire time, he looks so lost and when he comes to deliver his speech, he's still halting, still stammering and you can feel his shame, especially as the camera starts to focus on the crowd of MPs. But the moment that got me, was when he came back to his family when they're all packing their things and as he stands there about to hug them, his girls, his little girls stop and curtsey. In that moment, he's no longer their father but the King and you can see it in his face, that he's just realised everything is going to change. That would be when I started crying, which was only compounded by his breakdown in the study when he says "I'm a naval officer, that's all I know!" I'M NOT CRYING IT'S JUST RAINING ON MY FACE.
c) THE LAST LIKE, FIFTEEN MINUTES.
Also I would just like to talk briefly about Bertie and Lionel's reconciliation and how perfectly done that is. How they both acknowledge that the fault lies with both of them. But also how the power dynamic is very briefly altered by Logue's wife returning (HI JENNIFER EHLE). First of all, that was just so well played and hysterical to watch, the genuine fear of Lionel's face and how bemused Bertie is and how he's uncomfortable with just shying away from it. But the dynamic shift in that Bertie is the one to push Lionel forward for once. (Also HBC was actually perfect, how she set down her teacup and waited and then "I hope you won't call me Liz.") MY HEART WAS JUST SO PLEASED.
Obviously this is a film concerned with silencing and what it means to have a voice which is something it handles beautifully. (That scene when Edward mocks Bertie's stammer at Balmoral and he can't say anything in response was just amazing because it perfectly explicated why Bertie is the way he is, not just with the stammer but the way he holds himself.) But more than that, this film is covered with the shadow of the war, of what that entails. You watch this film, waiting for it to break. It covers a time period that was fraught with a lot of panic for Britain, where the monarchy had its make or break moment with modernity and then just after that, or rather caught up in that is the fact that war is looming on the horizon. Bertie is aware, before he is even crowned, that there is a possibility of war. So the speech itself is so important and that's why he panics. It's not just about his voice, but the weight of the fact that he has to announce to his country that they are going to war. Again. And as it plays out, whilst there is a pride in his getting through the speech, it's laden with the knowledge that they have no idea just how bad it's going to get. IDK IDK, I think I lost all coherence a while back but yes. Feelings, feelings, I have so many of them.