Royalty is still riveting
V. GANGADHAR
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Two queens, one past and one present, in `Marie Antoinette,' and `The Queen,' are drawing Americans to the theatres.
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REGAL TALES:The Queen.
Two queens, one from history and the other very much with us, are making news in the entertainment world, and packing American theatres with the crowd.
One of them, `The Queen' is also a haunting tribute to the late Princess Diana. In Stephen Frears's British production, Diana is a visible ghost appearing not in the guise of an actor, but in actual news snippets.
The other royal film, `Marie Antoinette' views the unfortunate 18th century French queen through the aura of modern pop culture. Both are highly artistic representations of the current fascination with royals.
Public image
While both revolve round queens, they are more about royalty and its public image.
`The Queen' deals with the one week between Diana's death and the mass hysteria of her funeral and in almost tabloid form recounts how the people began worshipping her even while frowning at the attitude of the senior members of the royal family who were seen as anti-Diana.
As Queen Elizabeth II (superbly played by British stage actress Helen Mirren) realises, "I've been never hated like this before. Nowadays, people want glamour and tears, the grand performance."
Unable to understand or explain the mass hysteria, the screen Prince Charles laments, "The two Dianas, the public's and ours, have no relation to each other."
The tragic generation gap in the royal family is further illustrated when the Queen Mother, after being told that the guest list for Diana's funeral included actors, fashion designers and other celebrities, wonders, "Celebrities?"
The director then shows a news clip showing the presence of Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and another clip from Diana's famous TV interview where she coyly observes, "I would like to be the queen of people's hearts!" But there is no denigration of the royal family in the film.
In rave reviews, British critics explain that the film made people realise what the Queen had done for them and attributes this to Helen Mirren's extraordinary portrayal.
Strangely enough, Helen Mirren was not Frears's first choice. Actually, Mirren was in the U.S. during and immediately after Diana's death and watched the funeral on American TV.
"The mass hysteria I saw was something like scenes in `Evita' after her death, " Mirren recalls. "I could sense something had happened to England, for 10 years we had the `Di' fever in the media, then suddenly she was no more."
Marie Antoinette.
For Mirren, `The Queen' was the trickiest role of her career. She watched a lot of TV coverage of the Queen, practised her walk, stance and how she kept on twisting her wedding ring. Famed voice coach, Penny Dryer, helped her to acquire the Queen's `perfect British upper middle class' accent. TV footage of 12-year old Elizabeth, getting out of a car, smiling and shaking hands with those present was a revelation. She was so composed, proper, in fact, very much the little girl who wanted to do the right thing.
While shooting for the role, something strange happened. As the bejewelled Queen in her royal robes, walked into the set for the first time, there was a sudden hush. People stiffened and stepped back, for the Queen should never be touched. Once the day's shooting was over, the `Queen' was back to being the jovial Helen Mirren.
The film brilliantly brings out the contrast — the royal family wanting a low-key, stiff upper lip kind of funeral, while the PR(Public Relations) - conscious Prime Minister Tony Blair, guessing the mood of the people, wanting a public show and getting it.
The tabloids
The tabloids turned against the royal family, calling the members, cruel, and out of touch with reality. This went on for a week and has become the movie's subject matter.
In `Marie Antoinette,' director Sofia Coppola, shows a child queen, brought to marry an impotent French King and presented in pamphlets as a nymphomaniac.
The film presents Marie like the 18th century version of a pop star as though a day in her life is like being at a Pop Music Awards Nite! Yet, sharing the bed with a sexless husband, the film mirrors Marie's loneliness. Unlike Diana, there was no escape for Marie, she could never win a PR battle. It is only now that the unfortunate queen, who never made the statement, "Let them eat cake," is being properly understood and the film helps with the process.
What strikes one is the visual opulence, showing the youthful frivolity of the age. Marie Antoinette had to be a part of it but thanks to Sofia Coppola, she still manages to come out as a sensitive, unfortunate human being.
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