The Bad : The Queen

The Queen, 2006

Directed by Stephen Frears

Nationality : British
Prices : (amongst many many others) Academy Awards : Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role — Helen Mirren, BAFTAS : Best Film, Actress in a Leading Role — Helen Mirren

The Queen takes place in 1997. This year may be irrelevant to the French people, but British people would remember it as the year Diana died. I even myself remember it, I didn’t really know who she was (I was 7), but I saw so many reportages and shows about her death on TV, that I even hung a poster of her in my room !

She died in Paris, in a car accident. The whole world was shocked and England was mourning. Everyone was talking about it, crying about it, except for The Queen. She was at the Balmoral castle in Scotland at the time, and Elizabeth II seemed to be the only person in England who remained silent, distant, who seemed indifferent about the Princess’ death. She didn’t seem to understand her country’s reaction, but Tony Blair on the other hand knew it was very important for the Government to do something, react about it. People was mourning her death, the nation was bruised, therefore, he had to make the Queen say something about this Death, to contain the country’s pain.

But she was stubborn and her insubordination, her incomprehension and pride brought people’s hate towards her.

The story of the film gravitates around Diana’s death, but it is above all about the Queen’s life during this difficult moment. I myself didn’t understand why she didn’t do anything about it, but I think the movie is actually very poetic and beautiful as it shows the Queen’s side of the story, even if it’s fictional. There’s been hundreds of documentaries, reportages about Diana’s death, and for the first time maybe, someone showed another side of the story.

The Queen has obligations, standards to respect, and Diana was not responding to one of them. In the end, even if she should have done and said something, she just happened to stay on her positions, she was just honest in a kind of way. This episode, which became more political than expected almost brought the Queen to abdicate.