Agenda Movie Club: The King’s Speech

The King’s Speech

Tom Hooper

2010

I don’t remember the last time this happened after a movie I saw– except during the film festival– but when The King’s Speech ended, the audience applauded. I don’t know if it’s because I saw it on Christmas* and the crowd was made up of people who only see one movie a year, but they really liked it. So did I.

Colin Firth is getting all of the publicity, and I’m so glad that he’s finally been recognized over the past couple of years for the solid work he always does, but, personally, I was really, really happy to find Geoffrey Rush completely enjoyable again. There have been times when I loved him, but sometimes it seems like he’s just letting his natural talent get him through a movie instead of really going at it. Even when he’s doing that, he’s still generally better than 95% of the other people out there, but he moves to a new level when he’s on top of his game. And he definitely is here. I will be disappointed if he doesn’t get a Supporting Actor nomination at the Oscars.

I certainly don’t have anything bad to say about this movie. In fact, there was only one point at which I sort of said to myself, “ok, this is that part of every small British movie when the scene gets just a little too cute and British and every is charmed by it” (you know it happens, every time). The only thing is, I can’t remember what that scene was. So, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Then let’s just forget it.

And now that we’ve forgotten that scene happened, we can say that the entire movie is completely enjoyable. Where did I read someone say that it takes a subject that is kind of boring and makes it totally engaging? I don’t know, but someone said that. The only thing I’d disagree with is that the subject isn’t actually that boring– a guy who never thought he’d be king becomes king when his brother abdicates and then has to give one of the most important speeches in forever (?) at a time when radio is becoming a major medium and– oh yeah– he has a terrible stutter. Can’t really beat that.

My favorite scene is when Bertie (Colin Firth, the king) actually gives the speech– Geoffrey Rush, who plays his speech therapist, almost “conducts” Bertie as he would a symphony, asking for crescendo here, pulling back there, until the king has finished and everyone applauds. And what’s great is that it’s not like the king pulls it off without any problem at all– it’s excellent, but certainly not perfect. He still does stutter a few times, he gets stuck on a couple of words, he has to add some syllables to get through it. It’s pretty fascinating, and not flawless, which you know I like.

I liked seeing Elizabeth as a young girl, especially in light of The Queen a couple of years ago.

I’m glad Bertie and Lionel (Geoffrey Rush) became friends. They both needed it.

It makes me angry that this has an “R” rating. It’s because Bertie says “fuck” a lot as he’s working through his speech problems (it’s actually part of his therapy). That’s it. Nothing else. I would absolutely show this to people under 17, because they’d enjoy it, and it’s meaningful, and “fuck” is not that big a deal, especially when it’s not even referring to anything sexual.

FuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuck
FuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuck.

See?



*Yes, I realize this post is coming after the three-day deadline I give myself. I feel sufficiently punished after driving for a good 28 hours from Kansas to San Diego.