Babe & Darcy 的貓物語

The Queen (2006)

Following plot:

The film begins on the eve of the 1997 British general election, which saw Tony Blair as the United Kingdom's first Labour Party Prime Minister in 18 years. While posing for an official portrait, the Queen talks with the artist and expresses her regret about not being allowed to vote. Queen Elizabeth is slightly wary of the new prime minister and his pledge to "modernise" the country, but Blair promises to respect the independence of the Royal Family. Blair visits Buckingham Palace to kiss hands, where the Queen asks him to form Her Majesty's Government.

A few months later, during a visit to Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales is inside a car being chased by some paparazzi when the driver accidentally crashes into a tunnel pillar underneath the Pont de l'Alma, resulting in her death. Britons erupt in an intense state of grief, as millions go to Kensington Palace to place floral tributes and notes along the fence. Blair makes a public statement, written by his director of communications, Alastair Campbell, in which he describes Diana as "the People's Princess." The phrase catches on immediately.

Meanwhile, the Royal Family is still on holiday at Balmoral Castle, the Queen's Scottish estate in Aberdeenshire, a contrast with the relatively modest middle-class household the Blairs keep in their constituency. Diana's death sparks mixed feelings among senior members of the family. Diana had not been much beloved by them while she was alive. The Queen observes that, since Diana divorced her son, Charles, Prince of Wales, a year before, Diana is no longer a member of the Royal Family. Consequently, as she insists to Blair, the funeral arrangements are a "private matter" to be left to the late princess's own family, the Spencers. After initially hesitating, she accedes to Prince Charles' request, following the Queen Mother's suggestion, for his use of an aircraft of the Queen's Flight to fly to Paris and bring Diana's body back to England. Charles ensures that Diana's coffin is draped with a royal standard instead of being a "plain wooden box."

In London, the bouquets begin to pile up along the Palace fence, forcing the changing of the guard to use another gate. As the days pass, the British tabloids become increasingly impatient with the absence of an expression of public condolence from the royal family. Prince Charles, during a brief conversation with Blair when Diana's body is returned to London and later through back-channel contacts, leaves no doubt that he shares Blair's views about the need for a more public expression of grief. Blair's popularity rises sharply, to the delight of the Prime Minister's more republican advisers, including his wife, Cherie, who see the Monarchy as hopelessly antiquated.

Blair, however, does not share these sentiments. He wants to save the Royal Family "from themselves" before it is too late. Despite not concurring with the Royal Family's course of action, Blair respects the Royal Family and chides Cherie for her lack of respect. (Later on, Blair reveals himself as a traditionalist who supports the Monarchy and angrily denounces the anti-royal disdain of his Labour counterparts.) After days of building pressure, Blair calls the Queen at Balmoral and urgently recommends a course of action he believes is needed to retain (or regain) the public's confidence in the Monarchy. These measures include attending a public funeral for Diana at Westminster Abbey, flying a Union Flag at half mast over Buckingham Palace (a step without precedent in four centuries of royal protocol), and speaking to the nation about Diana's legacy in a live, televised address from the Palace.

Blair's recommendations outrage the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Queen Mother. Philip is also surprised that Elton John, a homosexual, is to attend and sing in Diana's honor. They view such steps as an undignified surrender to an emotional frenzy, whipped up by the newspapers, that will blow over when the public comes to its senses. The Queen shares their sentiments but begins to have doubts as she follows the coverage. Speaking with her mother, the Queen muses that there has been some shift in public values, that perhaps one should step aside when one no longer understands one's people. Her mother reminds the Queen of the vow she made as a princess (to devote "my whole life, whether it be long or short... to your service").

In a key symbolic and fictional scene (a portion of which was played during the Oscar television programme), the Queen is alone in the countryside, her vehicle having broken down. A stag approaches, and their eyes meet. She recognizes the deer as one that her own family has been unsuccessfully hunting. When she later learns of its having been killed by a neighbouring sport hunter, she visits the hunter's home and contemplates the fallen stag.

The Queen returns to London, inspects the floral tributes, and goes on live television to speak about Diana's life and work. This gesture seems to diffuse the public's anger. Two months later, Blair comes to the Palace for a weekly meeting. The Queen has regained her popularity, but believes she will never quite fully recover from "that week." She cautions Blair that he too will find, one day, that public opinion can turn rapidly. With some banter about who should be advising whom, they go for a walk in the Palace garden, talking about Blair's current policy plans and apparently enjoying each other's company.

之前就蠻想看這部片了，只因為當時太多人租這部dvd，所以就一直拖到現在才租DVD來看
Helen Mirren　的演技真的是一級棒的。
除了學習Queen Elizabeth II　的說話方式，以及氣質跟態度都非常的相似。
演「The Queen」，Helen Mirren 參考大量的資料書籍和紀錄片，卻沒有和任何皇室成員討論，她不想受太多皇室影響。
Helen Mirren說：「模仿女王造型不難，最難是模仿她主政時莊嚴的腔調，及生活中輕鬆的語氣，兩種不同的口音。」
她最感動女王揮趕雄鹿痛哭失聲的戲：「那是女王回歸原始的純真」。

整部片步調有點慢，再加上牽扯到Royal standard，government跟Public reaction
雖然這部片是以模擬，推演的方式呈現，畢竟沒有人真的可以知道當時皇室成員的想法。
但在這部片裡，的確點出當時皇室沒有一開始做出任何動作的重點
Anyway 如果對英國皇室有興趣的人，可以考慮租這部片看看。