THE KING’S SPEECH

While Prince William’s recent engagement may be generating media fanfare, the cinematic representation of his great-grandfather in The King’s Speech has garnered much critical acclaim. Commencing in 1925 and traversing the aesthetically-pleasing 1930s, Tom Hooper’s stylish period drama centres upon the budding friendship between Prince Albert (Colin Firth), a reluctant monarch-in-waiting for whom public duties are an agonising ordeal due to a crippling speech impediment, and his speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an amateur actor whose unorthodox methods and disregard for stifling etiquette fosters a sense of intimacy between the two. More character piece than historical drama, The King’s Speech offers masterful performances laced with wry humour and feeling.  Firth, renowned for his portrayals of proud noblemen repressed by gentility, perfectly balances vulnerability with his famous rendition of the stiff upper lip, while Helena Bonham Carter gives an understated, charming performance as Albert’s supportive wife. Although a rather predictable and over romanticised depiction of the British monarchy, the film is a delightful and intimate portrayal of friendship and crippling insecurity. **** (LR)