The King's Speech: A Review.

Tom Hooper, 2010

Contains some spoilers!

Period dramas have never been my cup of tea, but I'm trying to be much more open minded when it comes to films/genre. I'm glad my oldest brother consistently recommended this to me on a daily basis, as this is such a beautifully shot, incredibly thought out and well performed film. The King's Speech received 12 Oscar nominations, and won 4 of them, including Best Actor for Colin Firth, Best Director for Tom Hooper, Best Original Screenplay and the big one, Best Picture. It was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for both Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, the latter of the two I thought was incredible, and Best Cinematography, only to be beaten by Inception, which is probably fair enough, however the way The King's Speech was filmed was incredible in it's own right.

As with every period film, this film relies heavily on the quality of production, combining the regal side of things with the Royal Family, and the scruffy Depression-Era, smog-ridden London. It would probably prove to be quite hard to create a convincing looking set, especially with the constant forward moving and evolving modern world we are in, and this movie definitely succeeds on the mise-en-scene front.

The movie follows the story of the future King George VI but current Prince Albert (affectionately known as Bertie), played by Colin Firth, and his struggle with public speaking, due to his stammer, and starts with him reading a speech his father wrote, infant of thousands at the closing of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium in London. The setting is so dark, the weather, the clothing, its all so damp, dark and cold. The first half of the film is like this, predictably getting lighter and lighter as the film goes on, as his condition improves.

The camerawork in the film, from the first shot right the way through to the last, is second to none. The director Tom Hooper stated that he wanted the camera right in the face of Firth on the first day of filming, to capture the nervousness of the first day, and have it portrayed in to the film, mirroring the nervousness of Prince Albert, and the worried and anxious feelings he would be feeling due to his stammer. Hooper used many cinematic techniques like this in order to recreate the King's feeling of constriction, including using wider than normal lenses, and occasional almost fish-eye shots. Early on in the film, and particularly the early meetings between the Prince and Lionel, the speech therapist, Hooper used many off centre shots to create even more feelings of unease, and convey anxiety through Firth's body language. Hard light was also used during filming, and this gives the shot hard sharp edges, and fills the whole screen with tension throughout.

To continue the story, Prince Albert's wife, Elizabeth persuades the speech therapist I briefly mentioned earlier, Lionel Logue, much to Bertie's initial disapproval. Together Bertie and Lionel tried an exercise where Bertie would wear headphones which would play classical music played, and simultaneously recite Hamlet's 'to be, or not to be'. The audience can only hear the roaring sound of Mozart, before Bertie storms off, calling the experiment useless. It's not until later when the Prince plays back the recording of him speaking, and he hears himself flawlessly reciting the piece, that he agrees to go back.

There is a story running parallel to Bertie's recovery from a stammer, and that is the story of his older brother, David, who becomes King after their father King George V dies, and chooses to Abdicate the throne, as he is in love with a divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson. This adds pressure to Bertie, who has now become the King of the United Kingdom known as King George VI, to improve his public speaking. At the time this was the most controversial thing to ever happen in the British Monarchy, and this is touched upon really well in the film.

On a tangent, Colin Firth's performance in The King's Speech is incredible. He made the stammer completely believable, carrying so much on his shoulders having to represent a former king, and not offend, or insult, but passed with flying colours. Firth and Geoffrey Rush worked so well together and bounced off each other perfectly, and that chemistry showed onscreen, and made it even more pleasing to watch. Firth revealed that weeks after filming he got stuck with the stammer. He threw himself in to the role and he truly deserves the Oscar for Best Actor.

With the overbearing threat of war incoming with Germany, King George had all the pressure in the world to become a figure of power and leadership, through wartime speeches, and that leads to the climax of the film, when he must declare war via wireless broadcast, With the help of his now close friend Lionel, conducting the King through the speech almost flawlessly. It is received incredibly well by the royal staff and the British Public. We are told that the King and Lionel remained incredibly close until the King's death in 1952.

The real moral of the story is about friendship, and overcoming something that has been overbearing for a lifetime, ie the stammer. The film was one of the most well received of the last 20 years, and I can't believe it's taken me so long to see it. The story is very predictable but still so moving, well-produced, and is a complete masterpiece. I think this is Colin Firth's best work, as far as commitment to the role goes, and execution of a hard character to portray. Tom Hooper, the director, was 37 when this came out, relatively young for a director , and has since gone on to direct Les Miserables, and The Danish Girl, not a bad back catalogue of movies to have under your belt, so I definitely look forward to what he is going to do next.

My Rating 9/10

Just a small disclaimer, from the next review onwards, unless it will be a 'deep dive' in to a film, I will try and avoid major plot spoilers, and will from now on give an overall rating out of 10 on the film at the end of the article, I hope this slight change in direction will be well received and a better way to write reviews.