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The King's Speech (2010)

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Edgy MD May 30 2011 07:00 AM

One of those films that I was sure had a thread but I can't find it. Colin Firth is the Duke of York, bearing the weight of the world as his father is declining, his crown prince brother is derided by all parties as inadequate for the throne, a catastrophic war is looming for the British Empire, and he himself is sidled with a crippling stammer that makes the prospect of a public life --- let alone one leading his nation in war --- terrifying. Geoffrey Rush is his speech therapist. Helena Bonham-Carter is his kind wife, who I suddenly realized 3/4 of the way through the picture was the Queen Mum herself.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 30 2011 08:09 AM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

Saw it on a plane, not bad. Saw the ending coming...

themetfairy May 30 2011 08:14 AM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

A nicely acted little film. Not a Best Picture winner in a stronger year, though.

sharpie May 31 2011 01:13 PM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

I agree. A solid picture which was not up against great competition.

Willets Point May 31 2011 01:36 PM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

The end is moving, inspiring, et al, but all the same I couldn't help thinking "“So, the king made a speech, big deal. There are people dying in Poland!” Edgy DC wrote: Helena Bonham-Carter is his kind wife, who I suddenly realized 3/4 of the way through the picture was the Queen Mum herself. Did you realize that Colin Firth's eldest daughter is now Queen Elizabeth II? I kind of wonder what it's like for that young English actress to portray the current Queen.

Edgy MD May 31 2011 02:22 PM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

That was clear to me from the beginning. I mean, I have a dim (useful anyhow) awareness of the Royal lineage, at least in teh American era. But the peripheral characters --- Lord this and Duke of that --- I'm not particularly curious about. But to associate Ms. Bonham Carter with the funny little sub-five-footer who lived to be 101 and seemed pretty thoroughly pickled to the end (no particular insult intended here, I could be wrong) was a startling realization. My thinking was probably along the line of "Wait a minute, she's not just a random person here... she's Elizabeth's mother... which makes her... HOLY CRAP!" Strangest picture to come up on a search for "young queen mum":

themetfairy May 31 2011 02:31 PM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

This reminds me of a comment I heard when The Tudors was running. You can't really complain about spoiler alerts if you've done your history homework.

Frayed Knot May 31 2011 02:56 PM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

The Queen Mum and my maternal grandmother were essentially the same person. You're just going to have to trust me on this one.

RealityChuck Jun 03 2011 09:17 AM Re: The King's Speech (2010)

themetfairy wrote: This reminds me of a comment I heard when The Tudors was running. You can't really complain about spoiler alerts if you've done your history homework. The silliest example of this was when people complained about an Australian writer giving away the ending to Burke and Wills. I pointed out that this was like a US writer mentioning that Lincoln was shot at the end of a biography.