THE KING'S SPEECH review

Oh it is awwf'ly good.

The immortal words 'UK Film Council' appear on the screen at the beginning of The King's Speech. For all the mistakes that now defunct funding-body made, if it helped to give us films of this quality then you begin to wish it back to life. The King's Speech is a mightily fine piece of work which shows the kind of film the British are capable of making if a decent amount of money is invested into it.

I'll be honest, I am not exactly a fan of the Royal Family and therefore not really a fan of films about them. But I went to see The King's Speech for a few reasons; Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter - three excellent actors. And it is directed by Tom Hooper, who directed The Damned United, which I liked very much. I kind of knew what to expect - a heroic story about one man overcoming his disability resulting in a climatic ending where he 'wins' and the audience is left with a big fat smile on their face. I knew it was mainly about a friendship and so there was likely to be moments of tenderness and conflict between the two friends and ultimately they would end up best buds. And I knew it would be very 'British'. I was right about all this. The film is pretty predictable. But that doesn't matter in the slightest. Sometimes all you need is a wonderfully acted and brilliantly written feel-good movie. This is one of the highest order.

The story concerns the Duke of York, Albert Frederick Arthur George (Colin Firth), i.e. 'Bertie' (to his family), and soon-to-be King George VI (in 1936). He is a deeply insecure man with a crippling stammer that results in him unable to speak in public. With his brother Edward (Guy Pearce) running off with Mrs Simpson after he has become King, resulting in his abdication, Bertie is to inherit the throne, meaning he will need to do a lot more public speaking. Add to this the invention of radio at this time and he'll be required to speak to quite a lot of people. His wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), who would become The Queen Mother, in a last ditch attempt to find someone who can help him, contacts an eccentric Australian failed actor and speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who uses rather unusual methods, which anger Bertie to begin with. From then on we have the build up to the big speech - a wartime message to the UK and British Commonwealth nations once Hitler has declared war.

The King's Speech rests heavily on the two main performances of Firth and Rush, and they deliver in spades. Firth has the kind of face that evokes a hundred different emotions with the blink of an eye; the kind of face that can make you want to cry just by looking at it because he makes you understand the sadness of this character - someone who, as Royalty, should be strong and confident. He is the complete opposite. It is a performance asking for and deserving of awards. Rush, for me, is his equal. Logue is played as an eccentric, funny and charismatic individual whose doctoring techniques and general unimpressed attitude towards Royalty make for some genuinely hilarious moments. The way the two actors play off each other is a joy to watch and the big moment at the end is expertly played by both of them. Even the most hardened anti-Royalist shouldn't feel bad if they end up giving the film (and the King) a standing ovation and round of applause at the end (most of the audience in the cinema did in the showing I went to).

The support is universally excellent as well. Bonham Carter plays the Queen Mum as a strong yet emotional wife who fully supports her husband and really wants him to succeed. For me, she is one of Britain's great character actresses and I would expect this performance to at least get her nominated during the awards season. Guy Pearce turns in an incredibly plummy performance as King Edward, somehow pulling it off, and Michael Gambon is excellent as King George V even though he is only in a few scenes.

So The King's Speech isn't anything new as such. In fact it's a confidently old-fashioned piece of work. And in the end it is about a speech (quite a lot of drama over just words). But the performances and script make it brilliant. A great start to 2011.

4½ / 5