The Queen ***** (2006, Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Helen McCrory) – Classic Movie Review 11,104

Helen Mirren is absolutely brilliant in the title role of Queen Elizabeth II in the vastly entertaining 2006 biographical drama film, sweeping all before her on the way to winning the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. Mirren looks nothing like the Queen, but all the time suggests she actually is the Queen, and there is the brilliance. She does look as though she is enjoying herself, and that mood is infectious.

The Queen is directed by Stephen Frears and written by Peter Morgan, and their brilliance must not be underestimated either. It won the BAFTA Film Award for Best Film, and Morgan won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

Morgan’s screenplay takes place from May to September 1997 and mainly depicts the response to and aftermath of the death of Princess Diana in a car accident in Paris on 31 August 1997 as the newly elected Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) tries to convince the monarchy to address the public instead of remaining hidden behind the closed doors of Balmoral Castle.

There is more brilliance in the support performances: Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, James Cromwell as Prince Philip, Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair, Alex Jennings as Prince Charles, Roger Allam as Robin Janvrin and Sylvia Syms as The Queen Mother.

The film was shot on location in the UK, Halton House and Waddesdon Manor, in Buckinghamshire, Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire and in Scotland at Balmoral Castle, Castle Fraser and Cluny Castle in Aberdeenshire, and Blairquhan Castle and Culzean Castle in South Ayrshire.

Mirren said that transforming herself into the Queen came almost naturally after she put on the grey wig and royal glasses, as she shares a slightly down-turned mouth with the Queen. Mirren regularly reviewed film and video footage of the Queen and kept photographs of her in her trailer during production, and took extensive voice coaching.

Sheen reprised his role as Blair from the 2003 British television film The Deal, for which Frears had a clause in his contract that allowed him to direct any follow-ups or sequels.

Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis at the 2013 BAFTA awards.

Appallingly Helen McCrory died of cancer at 52. Her husband Damian Lewis said she died ‘peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family’. Her ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Peaky Blinders’ cast mates remembered the actress as a ‘Force of Nature,’ a ‘Goddess’ and ‘a Genuine Firecracker’.

RIP Helen Elizabeth McCrory OBE (17 August 1968 – 16 April 2021). She played Cherie Blair in both The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010). She also portrayed Françoise in Charlotte Gray (2001), Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Peggy Tickell in Flashbacks of a Fool (2008), Mama Jeanne in Martin Scorsese’s family film Hugo (2011), Clair Dowar in the Bond film Skyfall  (2012), Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders (2013–2019), Jean Hogg in The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2014), Emma Banville in Fearless (2017), and Kathryn Villiers in MotherFatherSon (2019).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,104

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