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The Queen Review

Movies.com Critics

5.0

Dave White Profile

… smart and human … Read full review

For Families provided by Common Sense Media

OK for kids 13+

Well-acted drama isn't likely to appeal to kids.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this movie probably won't show up on kids' radar. It's really for the adult royal watcher. But if you decide to watch with your kids, know that the movie includes brief allusions to Princess Diana's car crash, preceded by the assembled press throng. There's a lot of discussion of the funeral, as well as archival TV imagery of the public mourning sites (flowers and artifacts left at estate and palace gates). Diana's sons and some on-the-street interviewees appear in tears. The movie features hunting scenes in which the royals "stalk" stags and shoot at them; one dead stag (killed off screen) appears hanging headless and draining blood, with its severed head on a table waiting for treatment. One use of "f--k" near beginning of film.

  • Families can talk about the tensions between traditional royal propriety and "modern" media representations. How does the film argue that this crisis -- the frenzy over Diana's death -- caused a shift in that relationship, since the royal family had to accommodate public sentiment rather than have subjects to follow their lead? How is the conflict between old and new explored in the relationship between the queen and Tony Blair (in this version of events, he embodies "modernization")? How accurate do you think this version of events really is?

The good stuff
  • message true0

    Messages: The royal family's resentment and dislike of Diana appears here to be unreasonable; Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth have a tense relationship, competing for "public" support.

What to watch for
  • violence false3

    Violence: Allusions to Diana's fatal Paris car crash (archival shots of the tangled-up car, with police inspecting the scene); Diana's young sons and Charles cry at news of her death; the royals hunt stags (using guns); a dead stag (killed off screen) appears bloody and decaptitated.

  • sex false0

    Sex: Tabloid shots of Diana with her fiancé (illustrating photographers' intrusiveness); Diana appears in an archival TV interview complaining that there were "three people" in her marriage to Charles.

  • language false3

    Language: Brief profanity: one "f--k," plus one each of "bugger," "hell," and "Oh, Christ."

  • consumerism false0

    Consumerism: British tabloids on frequent display.

  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0

    Drinking, drugs and smoking: Minor drinking (wine with meals).

Fan Reviews provided by

4

by justusII

4

by michaelhinman

5

by tbc1399

4

by lionkris

4

by 30316

5

Tastefully done by Mad_Mac
An excellent, and fairly true-to-life look at the events surrounding the Royal Family in 1997. Great care was taken to cast people who looked like those they were portraying, and Helen Mirren gave her usual polished performance as Her Majesty. Special praise also to James Cromwell for his perfect performance as the Duke of Edinburgh. Well worth the admission fee and more.

1

by krjpayment

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