Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
The Queen is an intimate behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between HM Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair during their struggle, following the death of Diana, to reach a compromise between what was a private tragedy for the Royal family and the public's demand for an overt display of mourning.
The Queen succeeds primarily on the strength of Helen Mirren's extraordinary, Oscar-winning performance as Elizabeth II — a genuinely exceptional piece of acting that anchors the entire film. The plot is competent and dramatically engaging, threading the political and personal tensions of the Diana mourning crisis with intelligence, though it remains a relatively contained chamber drama. Cinematography is functional and understated, befitting the restrained British aesthetic, without being visually remarkable. Novelty is moderate — the premise of humanizing the monarchy through a specific crisis was fresh for its time, blending docudrama elements with fiction in an interesting way, but it doesn't transcend its genre. The ending resolves the tensions satisfactorily without being especially memorable or surprising.