Film Review: The Kingaa‚¬a„¢s Speech

Directed by: Tom Hooper

Staring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush,

Helena Bonham Carter

On at: Cinema City Cotroceni, Hollywood Multiplex, Movieplex Cinema

Playing a character with a disability is a much-trod path to Oscar glory (see Dustin Hoffman, 1988, Tom Hanks, 1994, Geoffrey Rush, 1996). Playing a royal doesn’t hurt your chances either (Helen Mirren 2006). So Colin Firth looks to be on safe ground with his portrayal of King George VI, whose unexpected thrusting onto his country’s throne threatens to expose his embarrassing stammer. After his brother, Edward VIII, abdicates so he can marry American divorcee Mrs Simpson, George hires Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to cure him of his impediment. The ensuing story fuses an “odd couple” buddy movie – as the stuffy king learns to cope with his colonial chum’s unorthodox methods – with the uplifting Hollywood chestnut, the overcoming of adversity.

The plot advances leisurely, with few surprises. George is persuaded to hire Lionel, they don’t get on very well, then they do, George makes some progress. Gradually, the film builds towards the big challenge: the speech George must give after Britain declares war on Germany – not the sort of occasion he wants to blow his gravitas by getting stuck on the first word.

This simple story needs – and gets – no gimmickry. It is told through the splendid performances of high-caliber actors, with Firth as the frustrated monarch and Rush as his quirky tutor supported by Helena Bonham Carter as George’s loyal and sympathetic wife. Guy Pearce provides a counterpoint to the stiff George in the form of his dilettante-ish and flighty brother, while Timothy Spall’s Winston Churchill cameo is a jowly delight. Everything about the movie, from the cast to the script to the direction and the locations, oozes class, confidence and professionalism.

by Debbie Stowe

editorial@business-review.ro

The string of BAFTA and Oscar nominations earned by the British costume drama directed by Tom Hooper is living proof that the film represents the perfect recipe for these unsure times we live in.

The main ingredients are: royal values which highlight principles like stability and continuation, duty and dedication to the people’s interests, above personal ones; family values incarnated by the wonderful Helena Bonham Carter in the character of Elizabeth, the determined, yet gentle loving wife of the future King George VI of Britain (Bertie to his family and friends), who is the key element in finding a cure for her royal husband’s stammering; and last, but not least, the human values reflected by the egalitarian relationship between Bertie and his Australian nonconformist speech therapist, Lionel Logue, portrayed as an all understanding psychiatrist turned maverick by a too-much-in-your-face Geoffrey Rush. The human cord is there, vibrating at every level of this story about personal bravery during times of great distress (the imminent approach of the grim WWII is felt by both the characters and the viewers like a dark, terrible storm).

This whole mix is extremely cleverly sustained by the musical score of the film, which employs the regal-sounding music of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 and Piano Concerto No. 5 (‘Emperor’) as a background for the King’s first wartime speech, to announce the beginning of the nightmare. This is actually the climax of the movie, the moment we are all waiting for, which is wonderfully constructed on the rhythmical score devised by the accentuated words, the silence and breathing of the newly crowned king and the grave and solemn beat of Beethoven’s music. The speech itself is transformed into music and the music speaks better than words.

For sure, nothing of this magic potion formula would work without the A-list performance of Colin Firth, a demonstration of excellence in acting, whose internalized stammering goes beyond the level of a fantastic acting-technique achievement, becoming the outwardly expression of a rather sad childhood history turned into a meaningful and happy one, by the determination of a sturdy, kind and noble personality.

by Anca Ionita

editorial@business-review.ro

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