Cat Caught King’s Tongue: A Review of the King’s Speech (2010)
When God couldn’t save the king, the queen looked for someone who could.
At the 83rd Academy Awards, The King’s Speech won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Tom Hooper), Best Actor (Colin Firth), and Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler). The film had received twelve Oscar nominations, more than any other film. In addition to the four categories it won, the film received nominations for Best Cinematography (Danny Cohen) and two for the supporting actors (Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush), as well as two for its staging: Art Direction and Costumes.
I’m not sure how strongly the story of an early 20th century stuttering Duke of York will appeal to Dhaka audiences, but The King’s Speech is a must-see for our local filmmakers. Natoks and non-FDC cinema in Bangladesh are usually similar dialogue driven dramas. Therefore, a comparative analysis with The King’s Speech is pertinent. This film has won top honors at the Producers’ Guild and Directors’ Guild of America, Audience Choice at the Toronto Film Festival, seven Golden Globes, and has been nominated for twelve Oscars. Additionally, according to market data providers, Rentrak, has raised close to $100 million and counting, in the US and through international markets.
Of course, the scale of this production is incomparable to the size of Bangladeshi productions, but the subject matter The King’s Speech handles is of the nature that Bangladeshi filmmakers are comfortable dealing with. Assuming the shrewd and know-it-all Bengali filmmaker receives this film positively, there may be plenty of lessons to be learned from The King’s Speech. The question I want to ask you before I go ahead and review the film: Does the success of a drama depend on the basics? A formidable script, a stellar performance, a demanding director and, and: a well-informed team? But is there a mantra behind it?
The story of The King’s Speech is as complete a look into the world of a stutterer as has ever been seen. The three-character plot might seem pretty linear, but it’s punched with subtext. Director Tom Cooper does a good job of executing the tension that writer David Seidler writes about the relationship between his Royal Highness, or Bertie, (Colin Firth) and his Australian speech therapist Lionel Louge (Geoffery Rush). My only complaint about the script: the viewer has to suffer through too many excruciatingly agonizing failed speeches from Bertie. Calling for empathy is fine, but it was necessary to reduce the repeated pain inflicted on the audience.
In his screenplay, writer David Seidler, in effect, creates three worlds: the early 20th century period; the protocol-encrusted world of royalty and Lionel’s world, where he is king and the crown becomes commoner. There’s a reason behind his cheek: he maintains that his unorthodox and controversial methods will work on the duke, only if they behave as equals. The discomfort that this situation generates in the duke opens a new path for both textual and subtextual research on sociability in the monarchy. Also, as the relationship between the patient and the “doctor” grows, a unique friendship is explored.
The performances of Geoffery Rush, Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter do justice to the script. Peter Debruge of Variety magazine states, in his September 4, 2010 article, that the big scenes are indisputably from the monarch. However, the therapist’s stubbornness in choosing his path over the king’s has more visibility on screen than the royal perseverance of the monarch to deliver and finish a speech. The Duke of York has the most emotional scenes, but the memorable character sketch and acting are by the therapist. Geoffery Rush plays a delightfully independent character, and everything Rush does on screen enriches the story. Every gesture of his, every deliberation brings us closer to this period piece.
We are reminded very early in the film that Lionel the therapist is a failed actor. This bit of information foreshadows the later revelation that he’s also an actor, in some way, in real life: he’s not a certified practitioner. This omen illuminates Lionel’s internal conflict and gives as much importance to the goings-on of his mind as to the conflicts in the main character’s mind.
The accessories and decorations have their own distinctive feature. Each wall is rich and textured, each room is heavily inspired by a particular palette, and each character and staging uses spaces to resemble inhabited places. Tom Cooper and cinematographer Danny Cohen exploit the locations to the point of flaunting their baroque beauty. Actors are shown with ample headroom, often short on the sides, and close-ups are taken with wide lenses, giving the viewer a much wider, almost lopsided angle of view behind the actor.
Danny Cohen, in his interview with ARRI News, says that they decided to film this way in order not to lose context, increase the authenticity of the period piece, and increase the impact of the story. Cooper and Cohen opted for two ARRI Lite cameras, the ARRI Master Prime kit lens, and for the cool look they wanted: Fuji Eterna Vivid 500T film.
