King, despite everything
THE KING’S SPEECH Director: Tom Hooper Cert. 12A
‘What’s he saying, Daddy?’ asked the young Princess Elizabeth watching newsreel of Adolf Hitler addressing adoring crowds. ‘I don’t know’, replied the Duke of York, ‘but he’s saying it awfully well!’
That is one of the many memorable scenes from the film The King’s Speech about the struggle of Bertie, Duke of York, later King George VI, to overcome his stammer. His aide in this struggle is an Australian maverick, failed actor turned Harley Street practitioner, with minimal credentials and a colonial’s disrespect of royal protocol.
The film charts the royal progress. It is fascinating at many levels and extremely moving, especially in the central performances of Colin Firth as King George, Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, the speech therapist. This is a film about leadership, as a man, not born to be king, not wanting to be king, is thrust into kingship and finds himself deeply ill equipped for the role. It is about the humility it takes to learn, as a king makes himself subject to a commoner. It is about dealing with fears and finding a voice.
According to the film, both singing and swearing are antidotes to stammering. Beware, there is a substantial burst of expletives in one scene. The backdrop to the film is an inhospitable world: not just the Nazi threat, but Bertie’s arrogant, selfish and cruel elder brother (Edward VIII) precipitating a constitutional crisis. And London seems permanently foggy and damp. ‘Life is hard’, the film is saying. ‘Get used to it.’
The film’s climax is the king’s radio address to the nation at the outbreak of war. Will he master himself and rise to the needs of the hour? Even those familiar with the facts will gain a new understanding of the critical part the new king had to play and at what personal cost.
