A sigh of relief: The King’s Speech lives up to its pedigree. Despite a potentially stuffy subject, an inexperienced director, and months of over-exposure being touted as an Oscar favorite – before finally taking home the Best Picture award, among others, last week – this is truly an excellent film.
Before he ascended to the throne, George VI aka ‘Bertie’ (Colin Firth) could hardly stand before a crowd; a debilitating stutter rendered even the shortest sentences he spoke awkward and embarrassing.
With the help of his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), he’s gone through numerous therapists and techniques, to little avail. One last hope: unorthodox Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who must first break down the barriers of royalty before he can treat his patient.
Parallel to this story is the surrounding political climate: it’s late 1930s Britain, with Hitler’s Germany about to force the country into war. King George V (Michael Gambon) is ill, and potential successor Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) is about to give up the throne in order to marry the woman he loves.
That leaves George VI and his uncontrollable stammer at the head of the country. His most important task: delivering a radio-broadcast speech that can rally his countrymen as they head into WWII
This is a great story, and like many great stories, it’s (mostly) true. The script, by David Seidler, is flawless: the story of the King and his stutter is carefully woven into its historical context, without a single word wasted. Seidler deservedly won an Oscar for his work; this was clearly a project of passion for someone who had himself overcome a stutter (he also delivered one of the more memorable acceptance speeches in recent memory).
Firth is excellent in the lead, and took home a Best Actor Oscar; his stammer is so convincing that we almost lose hope that he can overcome it (it helps that we see a natural progression here, rather than an instant turnaround for the final speech).
Rush is nearly as good as the therapist, and Bonham Carter and (especially) Pearce offer solid support. Other familiar faces include Derek Jacobi as Archbishop Lang, Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill, and Claire Bloom as Queen Mary.
The production, on an incredible $15 million budget, is absolutely first-rate; cinematography by Danny Cohen impeccably frames the characters, editing by Tariq Anwar keeps things constantly moving.
Director Tom Hooper worked in UK TV for a number of years, making his feature debut with the little-seen 2004 Hilary Swank-Chiwetel Ejiofor drama Red Dust before achieving some measure of success with the HBO miniseries John Adams in ‘08 and the football (soccer) biopic The Damned United in ‘09. Still, this came out of nowhere; while I’m not sure Hooper deserved the Best Director Oscar over The Social Network‘s David Fincher, The King’s Speech is a remarkably well-handled and tightly-controlled film that belies the young director’s inexperience.
Is The King’s Speech a better film than Fincher’s The Social Network? One is tightly-scripted, old-fashioned and possibly more obvious entertainment that works wonderfully on more traditional levels, the other is a complex and almost omniscient masterwork that is likely to age better.
I know this: they’re both great. I wouldn’t necessarily feature either among my personal favorites of 2010, however, which include the blockbuster Inception, Oscar also-rans Black Swan and The Fighter, Olivier Assayas’ Carlos and Chomet’s The Illusionist.
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