The Queen - Director’s Commentary
May 29th, 2007
Frears, Mirren, Morgan. Photo: Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE
I’ve watched and written about this movie more than once, but a DVD commentary with Stephen Frears and Peter Morgan was reason enough to give it another whirl. On the audio track, the film’s director and screenwriter are every bit as entertaining as they were at the NYFF press conference, but I was disappointed to find them somewhat reluctant to share tricks of the trade. Instead, they delight in pointing out jokes and sharing their favorite lines. (Peter Morgan’s is a single word: “Mummy?”)
There is, however, a short discussion of the meaning of the stag, and right before the end, they make a few incisive comments about the nature of truth. Apparently, The Queen gets all sorts of details completely wrong, most notably the sets. (They say in reality the inside of Buckingham Palace resembles a “dilapidated hotel.”) Yet nobody criticized the film for this, which leads Stephen Frears to observe that “plausability is more complex than just getting things right.” They end on an affirmation of the power of fiction: “You can only tell the truth by lying.” Amen.
The Queen. Stephen Frears, 2006. *****
NYFCO Awards
December 10th, 2006
Together with two dozen of our esteemed colleagues, we spent the afternoon voting for the annual New York Film Critics Online awards. Stephen Frears’ The Queen was a clear favorite, winning no less than five categories: Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, as well as acting awards for Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen. Guillermo del Toro’s fable Pan’s Labyrinth won for Best Foreign Film, and the climate change shocker An Inconvenient Truth was awarded Best Documentary. See the complete list of winners.
[tags]nyfo, film, awards, jurgen, marcy, nyc, the queen, helen mirren, documentary, pan’s labyrinth, guillermo del toro, al gore, michael sheen, stephen frears[/tags]
