The King's Speech 2010
This is an interesting movie about the relationship between King George VI and his speech therapist. The King (well, not a king at first) has a big problem. One of his primary jobs is to appear at public events and often give speeches but he has a terrible stammer that leaves him unable to get even short sentences out of his mouth in any reasonable amount of time. He enters into a prickly relationship with a fringe speech therapist (after trying the mainstream ones with no success). There is some very good writing as the two trade funny lines, get angry at each other, and try to put the other in his place.
Set prior to World War II, there is still some relevance here. George’s daughter Elizabeth is the Queen today. George’s wife is the queen mother who died only in 2002, the same year Elizabeth’s sister Margaret passed away. All of these people are in the movie, so there are some definite connections to the royal family of today that most people are more familiar with. Even though the movie is primarily about the speech therapy, it is all taking place as George (his name is really Albert, judged a little too German for a British king in the 30’s) is taking an unconventional path to the throne with the whole world about to fall apart in a world war. So the movie makes you want to fill in some of the background later.
The cast is as good as you could ask for. Colin Firth plays King George, his father is played by Michael Gambon. His wife is Helena Bonham Carter (in the DVD extras, Firth says during shooting he got stuck in the very tiny old timey elevator with Carter and a cameraman and he says she’s an ideal person for that because she is funny, attractive, and small). I didn’t care for Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill. And of course Geoffrey Rush is the speech therapist. Rush, Firth, and Carter are all very good in the primary roles and were all nominated for Oscars (Firth won).
The movie doesn’t feel like the best picture of 2010 (for which it won the Oscar), but it is hard to find fault with it. The characters and writing are very strong even if the story itself can’t take too many twists and turns. It is still a period piece, but maybe a little more accessible due to some of the more light-hearted writing.
Written: 18 Sep 2011
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital