The King's Speech

It must be difficult enough to be the King of England...but as we learn in The King's Speech, it's even more difficult to be the King of England when you have a dreadful, crippling stammer.  It also takes a lot of talented people to make a film about stuttering even remotely interesting, but director Tom Hooper and the always wonderful Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter manage to do just that.

The King's Speech is the story of England's King George VI, who was unexpectedly forced to take over the throne from his philandering brother in 1936.  Unfortunately for King George (or "Bertie," as he's called by his family), he had suffered since childhood from a terrible stammer that would render him nearly unable to speak whenever he was called upon to address the public.  Not a good thing to have as a King, especially not one that was going to have constantly take to the airwaves to reassure the masses through the horrors of World War II.

In the years before ascending to the throne, Bertie had sought help for his stutter from a variety of doctors without any real success.  Enter Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist/out-of-work actor whose unorthodox methods teach a frustrated Bertie to finally find his voice, and, just as importantly, find his first real friend. 

The movie plays out very much a like a stage play (in fact, that's what the script was originally intended to be) and I would love to see this performed on stage.  Most of the action plays out between Logue and Bertie as they go through their speech therapy...Bertie begins the sessions as a bit of a royal snob, reluctant to believe anyone could help him and almost unwilling to try, while Logue pushes back at every turn making it clear he simply didn't give a damn if Bertie was royalty or not.  But unlike most, Logue believed in him, and in the end that made all the difference.  Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are simply brilliant in the roles.  Also, it was nice to see Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Bertie's loving wife Elizabeth, play a non-psychopath for a change.  She really is a terrific actress.

I'm not sure The King's Speech can overtake Black Swan as my favorite of the big Oscar contenders so far, but I'd love to see Colin Firth take home an Oscar for this one.  I'm going to reserve judgement on Geoffrey Rush until after I see Christian Bale in The Fighter, but Rush is so fantastic in everything anyway so I'd be happy if he won as well.  But I thought the film was excellent.