Director
Stephen Frears
Leading Actors/Actresses
Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen
Supporting Actors/Actresses
James Cromwell, Helen McCrory, Alex Jennings, and Roger Allam
Genre
Drama
Language
English
Awards
For her role as the queen, Helen Mirren won the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress. Beyond that, the film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Screenplay.
Date of Release
September 15th, 2006
Producer
Andy Harries, Christine Langan, and Tracey Seaward
Setting and Context
The United Kingdom, 1997, shortly after the death of Princess Diana.
Narrator and Point of View
Tone and Mood
Solemn, Dramatic, Realistic, Humorous
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: The Queen. Antagonist: The British people
Major Conflict
The Queen struggles to work through her complicated emotions about Diana and the demand for her to change her attitudes in order to address changing public opinion.
Climax
When the royal family goes back to London to pay their respects to Diana
Foreshadowing
The crisis around Diana's death is foreshadowed by the queen being interrupted in her meeting with Tony Blair to go discuss PR for a scandal she is embroiled in.
Understatement
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Allusions
Allusions to British monarchy, the death of Diana, British politics.
Paradox
The Queen has always been expected to be restrained and unemotional about crises in the past, but for the death of her daughter-in-law (of whom she was not even very fond), she is expected to be emotional and expressive. She struggles between a paradoxical drive to be both popular and dutiful.
Parallelism
The film begins with a meeting between the queen and Tony Blair, and ends with a meeting between them.
