The King’s Speech (2010)
What impresses me most about The King’s Speech is the unexpected camaraderie between two people with vastly different backgrounds and perspectives. Watching their trust and admiration evolve is a marvel. This film tells the true story of a reluctant prince-turned-king who seeks help overcoming a debilitating stammer in order to fulfill his unavoidable obligations with public speaking. But the movie resonates on a deeper level. Thematically, it’s about discovering and identifying past obstacles that prevent us from becoming our best selves, recognizing the damage that has occurred as a result, and employing alternate paths and methods to help us reach our full potential.
After struggling through his speech for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium, Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth in an Oscar-winning performance), seeks treatment for an embarrassing stutter. Several failed attempts later, his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) pays a surreptitious visit to Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian-born speech therapist with unconventional techniques but a solid reputation. Logue doesn’t recognize her at first—and even after her identity is divulged, he requires that the prince’s treatments take place on the premises in Logue’s office. As a last resort, Albert agrees to a meeting in which Logue insists that the prince call him “Lionel” and that he call the prince “Bertie,” a private family nickname. This, along with prying deeply into the past, infuriates the prospective client. Before he leaves, Bertie dons a pair of headphones that blare music while he reads the soliloquy from Hamlet into a microphone. Bertie can’t hear himself, which is precisely the point. Lionel captures this exercise on a record and offers it as a parting gift before the prince storms out of the place, seemingly for the last time.
Out of frustration, Bertie later plays the recording and discovers to his astonishment that he barely stuttered at all. He agrees to Lionel’s terms, and they begin regular sessions. Things get complicated and even more pressing in 1936 after the death of Bertie’s father King George V (Michael Gambon). Bertie’s older brother David (Guy Pearce) reluctantly ascends the throne under the name of King Edward VIII, but he is in love with Wallis Simpson (Eve Best), a commoner and a twice-divorced American. It’s clear he has little interest in royal obligations or for established politics in general even after he is cautioned by his mother Queen Mary (Claire Bloom) and Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall). He soon abdicates the throne in order to wed Simpson, leaving Bertie next in line.
Bertie seeks Lionel’s help for his coronation as King George VI, and there is a marvelous scene where the new king and queen visit Lionel for tea at his home and are introduced to his wife Myrtle (Jennifer Ehle), who learns at long last the identity of Lionel’s “secret patient.” On a side note, it’s fun to see Firth and Ehle together again on screen, after their triumph as Darcy and Elizabeth in the 1995 miniseries “Pride and Prejudice.”
Despite the increased pressure from his advisors, Bertie defends his unorthodox relationship with Lionel, who is given preferential treatment by the royal family. After some sleuthing by the archbishop (Derek Jacobi), including a thorough background check, Bertie is informed that Lionel Logue has no formal training and isn’t even a real doctor. This discovery leads to a falling out, due to a feeling of betrayal, but Lionel insists he never referred to himself as a doctor or pretended to be anything he wasn’t. His practical experience comes from working with shell-shocked soldiers during and after the Great War. In dealing with their severe psychological trauma, he was able to help them with their stutters.
The United Kingdom declares war on Germany in 1939, and Bertie is told he must offer a message of hope and unification by addressing the entire British Empire with an extended speech during a live radio broadcast. Desperate once again, he engages Lionel’s help as the two prepare to publicly face this pivotal moment in history.
The magic of this movie stems from a gradual unlocking of Bertie’s psychological barriers. As a result, we get to know the inner workings of both main characters. The performances from Firth and Rush are outstanding. In fact, the whole cast is terrific, particularly Helena Bonham Carter as Bertie’s caring wife Elizabeth. Diving into the mind of a king, dealing with the unforeseen damage from decades of others trying to “correct” him, is both astounding and heartbreaking. In addition to his stutter, which began around the age of five, he wore braces on his legs and was forced to use his right hand even though he was naturally lefthanded. As a child, Bertie was hammered into an acceptable mold and criticized for any shortcomings every day of his life.
My hat is off to David Seidler for writing such a beautiful script. Tom Hooper’s direction and Danny Cohen’s cinematography are noteworthy as well. They allow Seidler’s scenes to unfold using off-center closeups or wide-angle lenses that seem to comment on the action, capturing the struggles and revelations of a trapped mind. The music helps to support their work, particularly with the use of the stirring Allegretto from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 while Bertie delivers his final speech.
I’m thrilled with the Academy for choosing this picture as its best of the year, and I remember the audience’s reaction when I first saw it in the theatre. They were uncharacteristically attentive and quiet during the setbacks but laughed and cheered the personal triumphs each step of the way.
The King’s Speech
Director | Tom Hooper |
Primary Cast | Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, Derek Jacobi, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon, Clare Bloom, Eve Best, Anthony Andrews |
Familiar Faces | Colin Firth from The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love, Geoffrey Rush from Shakespeare in Love, Guy Pearce from The Hurt Locker, Derek Jacobi from Gladiator |
Firsts | None to speak of |
Total Wins | 4 (Picture, Director, Actor: Colin Firth, Screenplay: Original) |
Total Nominations | 12 (Picture, Director, Actor: Colin Firth, Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush, Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, Screenplay: Original, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, Editing, Sound: Mixing, Score) |
Viewing Format | Blu-ray Disc |
Comments
The King’s Speech (2010) — No Comments
HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>