Peter Morgan (1) (1963–)

Every week for sixty years Queen Elizbeth II gives an audience to her current Prime Minister when they talk over the events taking place within her realm. They are confidential meetings and constitutionally the Queen is neutral. So far she has had twelve PMs but not all of them appear in Morgan’s play because not all of them have dramatic value in contrast to that of the Queen even if it is often simply in her stillness, dignity and apartness. As the young Queen tells Churchill ‘The show more mystery being how you got so much power and I, as head of state, get none. Wasn’t it Gladstone who compared the British Prime Minister to a dictator? He was right.’ ‘Yes,’ Churchill concedes, ‘but remember this dictator is still a human being. Ambitious. Grasping. Venal. That’s how he [sic] got into office. And what ambitious self-regarding dictator could fail to be impressed by all this? By you?’

Morgan spins comedy and tragedy with Callaghan and Wilson’s relationships with the Queen. Anthony Eden is a villain from a melodrama, faded matinee looks and crumbling principles. There is comedy and tears and exasperation with John Major and the collapse of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s marriage, the fire at Windsor Castle and the demand for royal taxes. But the heart of the play is the audience between Margaret Thatcher and the Queen. This pulsates and rages with fury, deference, fear (the whole palace seems terrified of her) and clash of politics and values. If it isn’t what actually happened it is close enough to be convincing.

A Prime Minister and a monarch; two people with important constitutional roles and both are utterly lonely and vulnerable in those roles. The young Princess Elizabeth says: ‘To have to sit there like a stuffed animal and listen to mad people for hours on end’. To which the Queen replies: ‘A kinder one, perhaps, would be that you’re allowing complicated people, over-complicated people to measure themselves against something unchanging. Permanent. Simple.’ show less

Parts were interesting; the Gordonstoun episode was hilariously overwrought. Matt Smith and Claire Foy are both quite good. Margaret's story is interminable and her snottiness toward her sister, who seems much more the outdoorsy type, really, is unbearable. Ends with a pompous whimper.

The period detail may be misleading, but it is also engrossing.

A British talk show host interviews the ex-president.

I expected it to be good, but I didn't expect to like it. As a rule, I don't care for biopics or based-on-a-true-story movies, and I don't care for politics. And I can't say I've ever really liked a Ron Howard movie before. So I'm not sure why I rented it, but I'm glad I did; it was a really great movie. It seems strange to say, but it felt like an action movie more than a drama - there's a hero and a villain and a series of escalating show more showdowns. Very effective suspense, even though the end is spoiled by the trailer (and by history, I suppose, but my high school history classes weren't nearly so thorough). show less

As much as I disdained the Diana adulation, and the way we in America--a supposed republic--squee over monarchy--I admit I do find them fascinating not just as an institution but a way of marking changes in history. And Queen Elizabeth II has seen more than her share. This treats just a short few weeks in her reign: the crisis precipitated by Princess Diana's death. Nevertheless, it somehow gets you a sense of Queen Elizabeth's life, even if like me you're no royal watcher. And Mirren is show more fantastic--she won a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Actress for this performance--and the film garnered plenty of other nominations and wound up on several Top Ten lists. show less