Colin Firth

Geoffrey Rush

Helena Bonham Carter

Guy Pearce

Timothy Spall

Michael Gambon

Jennifer Ehle

Derek Jacobi

Freya Wilson

Ramona Marquez

Richard Dixon

Robert Portal

Eve Best

Paul Trussell

Adrian Scarborough

Andrew Havill

Charles Armstrong

Roger Hammond

Calum Gittins

Dominic Applewhite

Ben Wimsett

David Bamber

Jake Hathaway

Patrick Ryecart

Teresa Gallagher

Simon Chandler

Claire Bloom

Orlando Wells

Tim Downie

Dick Ward

John Albasiny

Danny Emes

Anthony Andrews

John Warnaby

Roger Parrott

Dean Ambridge

Julianne Buescher

James Currie

Graham Curry

Tony Earnshaw

Sean Talo

Tom Hooper

Bob Weinstein

Paul Brett

Iain Canning

Harvey Weinstein

Tim Smith

Alexandre Desplat

David Seidler

Nina Gold

Jenny Beavan

Simon Egan

Mark Foligno

Peter Heslop

Emile Sherman

Deepak Sikka

Gareth Unwin

Tariq Anwar

Eve Stewart

Leon McCarthy

Judy Farr

Nana Fischer

Paul Gooch

Carmel Jackson

Frances Hannon

Christine Whitney

Alex Rouse

Kristyan Mallett

Erica Bensly

Emma Zee

Jeff Maynard

Julia Castle

Peter Burgis

Paul Hamblin

Catherine Hodgson

Martin Jensen

John Midgley

Forbes Noonan

Lee Walpole

Mark Holt

James Davis III

Thomas M. Horton

Collette Nunes

Viral Thakkar

Tony Tromp

Derek Bird

Cyntia Büll

Charlotte Collings

Kelly Fischer

Ilamuruguselvan

Danny S. Kim

Hanuman Patel

Migs Rustia

Paul Stemmer

Melinka Thompson-Godoy

Danny Cohen

Paul McGeachan

Zac Nicholson

Laurie Sparham

Jeff Smithwick

Jean-Pascal Beintus

Peter Clarke

Maggie Rodford

Nicolas Charron

Sylvain Morizet

Carl Isherwood

Simon Jones

David Broder

Dennis Davidson

Cathy Doubleday

Jamie Lengyel

Camilla Stephenson

Neil Swain

Philip Lobban

Teresa Mahoney

Andrew Mackie

Albert Martínez Martín

Christos Michaels

Richard Payten

David Hindle

Gerard McCann

Steve Morphew

Bruce Bigg

John Roberts

Matthew Skelding

Andre Schmidt

Martin Harrison

Chris Stoaling

Andie Derrick

Ludwig van Beethoven

Martin Kenzie

Marco Scotti

Sally Turner

Gareth Spensley

Fiona Garland

Marilyn Goldsworthy

Emma Davie

Nick Jeffries

Scarlett Mackmin

Drama

History

The King's Speech

The Weinstein Company

See-Saw Films

Bedlam Productions

United Kingdom

United States of America

English

great britain

marriage

stutter

monarchy

palace

radio

radio transmission

royal family

based on true story

death of father

speech

royalty

historical fiction

1930s

british royal family

british monarchy

winston churchill

speech therapy

corgi

Andres Gomez

Round movie: good story, great cast, impressive stage and fantastic performances. It has it all.

The gift of cinema does credit to the gift of speech.

The King's Speech is directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. It stars Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, Derek Jacobi & Michael Gambon. Music is by Alexandre Desplat and photography is by Danny Cohen. The idea for the film came about after Seidler read about how King George VI (Firth) overcame his stammer after a friendship was formed with his voice coach Lionel Logue (Rush). Having himself overcome a stutter problem in his youth, Seidler set about writing his story from informed information. A bonus came before filming started when notebooks belonging to Logue were put forward for use. These enabled Seidler to incorporate works from the books into the screenplay. Plot picks up just prior to George's brother, Edward (Pearce), abdicating the throne, thus thrusting the stammering George on to the hottest seat in England. With World War looming, George will be needed to make the speech of speeches to becalm his nation, but first he must work closely with the affable Logue and hope it brings an end to his vocal woes.

I first viewed The King's Speech just a couple of days before the Academy Awards that year, so I didn't know how it was going to perform there. It would garner the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director (Hooper), Best Actor (Firth) and Best Original Screenplay (Seidler), with 12 nominations in total. This was a year when Oscar and BAFTA (where it won 7 of the 14 categories it was nominated for - including Best Film and Best Actor for Colin Firth) got things right. The film at that time I watched it had already made over $230 million in profit, which was a figure guaranteed to rise considerably since the film was still playing to packed theatres in the UK (which was indeed the case as the last figure put forward was $412 million).

I myself ventured to the theatre on 22nd February 2011, which was over 6 weeks after it was first released in its homeland. As I approached the cinema I saw there was a queue! A queue? I haven't queued to get into a film since the halcyon days of Jaws, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind! I noticed there was many youngsters in this line, so of course they were going to see the Yogi Bear movie, or that Gnomeo & Juliet film, Surely? Not so actually. In they went to see The King's Speech, an audience that ranged from 12 years of age to the fragile OAP day trippers. For the next two hours the only sounds I heard were that of laughter, hushed words of praise for what was on the screen, and even sobs during some of the more tender moments within. No mobile phones, no chitter chatter about acne or the boy next door, just an across the board appreciation for expert film making.

There in is the reason why The King's Speech coined it in at the box office and broke merry records as it went on its way. It has universal appeal, a film without tricks, just a simple involving story acted supremely by a cast of bona fide thespians. It beats a true heart,  whilst doling out a visual history lesson to those so inclined to matters of the British Monarchy and the political upheaval about to surface as Adolf started his surge. Even for a film so chocked full of dialogue and basic human interactions, the pace is brisk and never sags, the quieter reflective moments only bringing anticipation of the next enjoyable scene. When all is said and done, The King's Speech success snowballed because of word of mouth, it started out as an intended independent picture, to be shown in selected theatres only, and now it holds up as one of the best films of 2010/2011. Believe me, believe the hype, that if you still haven't seen it then you owe it to yourself to see this beautiful movie. 10/10

CinemaSerf

Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth make for quite a pairing in this touching drama of King George VI and his speech impediment. Being called upon for public speaking only increased the anxiety of the then Duke of York (Firth) and so his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) decided that there had to be a better way to treat her husband than sticking an handful of marbles in this mouth. She, as "Mrs. Johnson" sets up a chat with speech therapist Lionel Logue (Rush) and he, having no idea who she really is, only agrees to see him if he comes to his consulting room. Unfamiliar with the backchat, but impressed by his independent mindedness, TRH duly arrive and once Logue gets over the shock, he begins to deal with his new, cash-are, client in a polite but hardly deferential fashion. Gradually we see that progress is being made. Not just with the confidence of the Prince at speechifying, but also with his attitude and behaviour in general. He likes Logue, Logue likes him and thanks to some airfix kits, quite a bit of the old Anglo-Saxon and all under the discreet but potent supervision of the Duchess, the young man comes better prepared for what is to come next - after the Abdication Crisis, that is... There's a great rapport between the two men here as this speculative story offers us a plausible and engaging look at just how tough and unforgiving society was to those who stammered - regardless of their rank. Rush also juggles Logue's role of a career man with that of a loving family man well as well as a budding Thespian entertainingly too. Astutely, Tom Hooper leaves the vast majority of the film to just those two men. HBC adds a touch of diversion now and again and Sir Derek Jacobi weighs in as the outwardly rather unsympathetic Archbishop Lang but for the most part it's just them. It's history, we know what actually happened but over these two hours we do get a sense of beginning to know a little of the man beneath the crown and of his honest and forthright advisor and of why they might have become firm friends. No gimmicks, no CGI - just a solid script, some great production design and two strong performances.

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The King's Speech( 2010)

Find your voice.

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A review by Andres Gomez

Written by Andres Gomez on Mon Nov 26 2012

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