Acclaimed director Stephen Frears (Mrs. Henderson Presents, Dirty Pretty Things, Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters) pulls back the curtain on the private chambers of the royal family in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death in 1997, where the contained, traditional world of the Queen of England (Helen Mirren) is brought into conflict with the public, modern Prime Minister (Michael Sheen) and a nation looking to its leaders for guidance in dark times. Dramatic and revealing, the story of The Queen was drawn from extensive interviews, research, discreet sources and informed imagination.
For more about The Queen and the The Queen Blu-ray release, see The Queen Blu-ray Review published by Ben Williams on September 6, 2007 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.5 out of 5.
It seems that British royalty is all the rage these days. With "The Tudors" making a splash on Showtime (and soon to be released on Blu-ray) and Helen Mirren's big Oscar win for The Queen, being a Sovereign has never been as fashionable. So, it is with a bit of surprise that I find myself absolutely smitten with The Queen. This is a film that had "Movie of the Week" written all over it, but pans out to be so much more. Elizabeth II is quite a woman and The Queen might just surprise you.
As the events surrounding the death of Princes Diana unfold, the British royal family finds itself locked away in their estate in Scotland and ignoring the events taking place around them. Newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) seems to be the only person in England capable of convincing the Queen (Helen Mirren) that she needs to step up to the plate and actually get involved with the British people. Royal traditions will be threatened as the Royal Family face their biggest challenges since the abdication of Edward VIII.
Tony Blair bows down like a good little Prime Minister.
Firstly, Helen Mirren deserves all the praise that can be heaped upon her for her amazing performance as Elizabeth II. She manages to show grace, pride and a certain amount of shame with a true eloquence that I haven't seen on screen for quite some time. Secondly, The Queen was a huge surprise to me as the film is incredibly entertaining. I found the situations and characters compelling and extremely interesting. What we are left with is a very subtle and engaging film of surprising complexity. The characters are extremely well fleshed out. The British Royal Family has always been very inaccessable and very much a mystery. The Queen, for the first time, helps to show the unique personality of the family and, more importantly, Her Royal Highness, herself.
Disney has made a few changes for this release on Blu-ray. Most notably, Disney has switched over to VC-1 for the encoding job. The results are indeed impressive. The film is presented with a good deal of grain in many scenes and the filmmakers also chose to use of a large amount of stock footage. This gives the film a very uneven presentation that is nothing if not authentic looking. I was not fortunate enough to see The Queen theatrically, so I can't comment on how true to the original theatrical presentation this Blu-ray is. I can, however, comment on this transfer's complete lack of any compression artifacts, noise, ringing or edge enhancement. The source print seems to be pristine as there were no noticeable dropouts or signs of dirt or grime. All in all, this is a very pleasing transfer but not high-octane demo material.
Disney has provided a PCM audio track for The Queen that is extremely well mannered and very subtle, just like a good Monarch deserves. This is a dialog heavy film and the PCM track brilliantly delivers every hushed whisper and snarky bit of dialog with aplomb. Surround activity is practically non-existent and there is absolutely nothing here that will impress your friends, scare the cat or make your neighbors angry. Instead, this soundtrack handles the source material without fault.
-"The Making of The Queen"
-Feature Commentary with Stephen Frears & Peter Morgan
-Feature Commentary with Historian Robert Lacey
"The Making of The Queen" is a fairly in-depth behind the scenes look with your standard interviews and on-location shooting scenes. It's a little more than standard EPK material, but does have a few nice anecdotes. The Frears and Morgan commentary, frankly, bored me to tears. I honestly had trouble staying awake as they offered little less than a running commentary on technical aspects of the film and various meaningless nuggets of information. On the other hand, the Robert Lacey commentary is outstanding. Lacey is a British historian who specializes in the Royal family. This track is full of fascinating stories about the royal family and it gives a huge amount of insight into their behavior during the events of the film.
Great video and a faithful soundtrack are always fantastic things to have in a Blu-ray release. Thankfully, The Queen has all of that to offer. The film, itself, is spectacular and paints a fascinating portrait of the Royal family. Helen Mirren has always been a favorite of mine, and she delivers a performance worthy of the Oscar she won this past year. You owe it to yourself to seek out this truly great film.
