Movie review - The King's Speech.

I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure how to rate this biopic about how The Duke of York/George VI overcame his stutter and to become a wartime monarch because I was unable to give it my complete attention in the last third of the film. On the other hand, my tipping it to win the 2011 Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actor has won me some cocktails so I've got to rate it well!


It's the closing of the Empire Games in 1925 and the Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth), must deliver the closing speech on behalf of his father, George V. An ordeal for both the speaker and the audience, the Duchess of York (Helena Bonham Carter) seeks out the best speech therapist in London, the unconventional Australian Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Together, they seek to cure the Duke of his stammer through a variety of exercises as well as getting to the cause of his stammer. Over time, we see the friendship develop between the Prince and the Commoner against the backdrop of social-changing events of the first half of the 20th century.


Although it sounds like a really stuffy film, what I did watch was really good! We see that this is a story about a man who seemingly has everything (he's a Prince, ffs!) but whose natural shyness and lack of confidence make public life unbearable, especially when living in the shadow of his more charismatic and scandalous brother Edward (Guy Pearce). Despite the disparity in station, we also see that both Lionel and the Duke (or Bertie, as Lionel calls him) are affectionate doting fathers and husbands who are equally loved by their wives and families. It's nice to see that despite his relationship with his parents and siblings as rather dysfunctional, Bertie himself is a great father and it's really sad to see how being a King instills a wariness in his previously boisterous daughters.


Everyone gives a great performance but watching Colin Firth as Bertie dealing alternately with his own disabilities while trying to deal with his recognition that the world is changing through advances in technology, when Edward does the unthinkable, and the isolation of being a figurehead. Unfortunately I was unable to watch the last third where Bertie, now George VI has to rise to the occasion as a wartime monarch but I'm sure that was also well handled.  


If I had to sum up The Kings Speech it would be *nice*. It's a nice gentle story that manages to humanise people who are so far beyond the average person. It however did not manage to make me cry the way Toy Story 3 did. Robbed!
7-8/10 for what I did watch.