There’s a king with a crippling stammer who hires an unorthodox speech therapist so he can deliver the oration that his people so desperately need in time of war. It sounds like a rather thin premise on the surface, doesn’t it? Not with this movie.
The King’s Speech does everything it possibly can to make this premise interesting and important. For starters, there’s the fact that this movie takes place in the early-to-mid 1900s, when radio technology was still new. The concept of politicians speaking directly to their constituents is something we take for granted nowadays, but it was something that heads of state were still getting used to back then. Furthermore — just as now — people are very quick to turn on government leaders who can’t speak their minds plainly. I think the movie sums it up nicely when our protagonist says of Hitler — he of the Holocaust and the Third Reich — “I don’t know [what he’s saying], but he seems to be saying it rather well.”
Speaking of which, the movie is very good at reminding us just what a terrible specter WWII must have been for Europe just before Hitler started his attempts at world domination. World War I had only ended a couple of decades prior, after all, and another war even more terrible than the first was already looming just over the horizon. Moreover, England was in an especially bad spot as its royal family was in shambles at this point: The current king, George V, was elderly with precious few years left in him. The next in line, Edward VIII, was a philanderer who sought to marry a divorced woman, making him an unfit head of England’s church. After him is Prince Albert (otherwise known as King George VI or “Berty”), played by Colin Firth as our main character, who can barely string three words together without stutters or lengthy pauses.
I remind you (as the film does) that British royalty doesn’t have any real governing power. They can’t levy taxes, pass laws or invade countries without permission from the Parliament. Rather, the job of British royalty is primarily to act as a figurehead. They are the face and the voice of the country. So when one of the country’s two foremost spokesmen is morally compromised and the other is unable to speak, that’s a pretty big problem.
So Berty (or rather, his wife) goes to hire a speech therapist named Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush. You might think that the rest of the movie would be a spin on the old “Rocky” formula, with our lead character getting coached until he improves enough to tackle the big challenge at the climax. And you’d be right, but only partially.
Surprisingly, this movie doesn’t focus on Berty’s struggle so much as it focuses on his developing friendship with Lionel. The therapist insists that their working relationship be founded on equality, going so far as to persistently call his royal patient by his first name and request that he do likewise. This was extremely imprudent, considering the class distinctions of Britain, and the film frequently makes it clear just how unusual it was that a royal should be so trusting and cordial to a commoner. One from Australia, no less.
Yet the two gradually come to develop a solid and candid friendship with each other. The film shows this in a manner that’s steadily paced and totally believable, structuring the narrative around their voice exercises, drinking sessions, falling-outs and reconciliations. It all builds up to the climax, which beautifully sticks the landing in every way. We see the wartime speech’s effect on the citizens of Britain, we see Berty overcome his difficulty and most importantly, we see him working with Lionel as a cohesive team to coax the words out. And it’s all topped off with a nice little confident joke. Brilliant.
Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are both wonderful in their respective roles. Firth is very convincing in his depiction of the stutter and all its peculiarities (which sounds he has trouble with, when it comes and goes, etc.). Rush, meanwhile, is brimming over with energy and dry wit. Together, they have wonderful chemistry and they work together perfectly to make the film’s central relationship work. They also get a lot of funny scenes together, notably when Firth is cursing up a storm as a vocal exercise.
Helena Bonham Carter also gets a role as Bertie’s wife, Queen Elizabeth (yes, that one). I don’t know what compelled her to do a film without Tim Burton, but if this is what comes of such a decision, then I hope Carter does it more often. She’s simply wonderful in this film, playing her character as a smart and shrewd woman, as well as a loving wife. Meanwhile, Guy Pearce comes back from obscurity to play the philandering brother, King Edward VIII. Pearce solidly delivers a character who’s attractive and charismatic, but also flighty and foolish.
The supporting cast also features such greats as Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon, both of whom turn in brief yet powerful performances (even if Jacobi’s archbishop is something of a sniveling dolt). The only weak link here is Timothy Spall, who was spectacularly miscast as Winston Churchill. Just think about that for a minute. The guy most famous in the States for playing Peter “Wormtail” Pettigrew was cast as one of history’s greatest orators and one of WWII’s most legendary figures. They cast this guy to play this guy. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Spall is clearly giving the role all he’s got, but it just isn’t enough. Fortunately, Churchill is a very minor role here (he’s not even Prime Minister yet), so it doesn’t hurt the film too badly.
The score and cinematography are good enough for a film that’s so completely centered on its script and cast. The music is quite solid and the cinematography is nicely restrained in its use of close-ups. I was particularly fond of Bertie’s first vocal practice, in which the entire sequence is shot without ever showing us his mouth. Rather clever, that.
The King’s Speech is a very pleasant little movie, with a very funny script acted out by a cast of aces. Even the miscast Spall is giving every bit of his considerable talent here. Most importantly, the film is built around Firth and Rush, both of whom are wonderful to see as they carry the film. It isn’t the year’s best, but it’s still good for Oscar consideration and definitely worth your time and money.