ENA5 The King's Speech

The Kings’ Speech

The King’s Speech is a British historical drama film from 2010. The film was appreciated not only by the audience but also by critics. The King’s Speech tells us how the King George, who suffered from a very bad stammer, become the King and how his only help for his stammer was a man from side streets of London.

I loved The King’s Speech from a first second. After watching a bunch of Hollywood films this was a heaven with no unnecessary drama nor pointless exaggeration. All the historical events have been connected to each other perfectly and the whole big picture is credible.

The actors of the film won’t be ignored. Especially when the whole movie is full of well-known British actors. One of them is my own favorite, Collin Firth. He plays the role of the King George with the stammer problems. And he plays the role so well, that you could actually think he stammers in real life. Other notable actors are Helena Bonham carter (Harry Potter, Bellatrix) as George’s   wife Elizabeth and Geoffrey Rush as the Lionel Logue the speak therapist who helps George with his stammer. All their gestures, tune of voice, costumes and make up are just perfect.

The milieu around the characters brings the audience very realistically the time of heaviness and anguish. The houses, parks and streets were grey, cold and faded. For example the glorious government rooms versus Logue’s office, which was poorly decorated, wallpapers disperse with a decrepit atmosphere because of the neighborhood. The illness of the time was showed by little details which were added by the director, such like the “mist” on the streets of the London. The mist wasn’t actually mist but dust and dirty of the industry. On the time there weren’t any filters so all the burned coal smokes toxins float straight down to the streets.  But of course you don’t point put things like that.

Beyound all this is the filming itself and backgrounds music. These makes a big difference for Hollywood’s style where actors takes the biggest part of the picture and leaves not much of room for the background. On this film the actors are always somewhere else than in the middle of the screen so that the audience would add the backgrounds looks for creating the atmosphere of the situation. Music on the other hand have been made very simple or it won’t be heard so that when it is played it creates a stronger feelings to the scene. The big orchestral music is placed with a classic piano music and sometimes with few other instrumentals. The silence gives more attention to what actors speaks which is the main point of the film of course.

A stuttering King without any friend besides his family was a very touching sight to addition to all of this. And for me who stutter too (all thought not so badly) this story is even more touching. And little facts what happened later on was shown on the end of the film such as “They were friends for the rest of their lives” (The King and the speak therapist) made me cry eventually.