| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 12/06/2012 : 15:26:40
When FDR hosted the first-ever US visit by a UK monarch it clearly was never going to be a few days of pass the port and pleasantries. Oh no!
Accomplished South African director Roger Michell [Notting Hill, The Mother, Venus, etc] has a knack of dropping little metaphoric gems along the path of understanding - they glitter as they enlighten, and never tarnish into a tattle-telling of history.
To those who've already discovered that the Depression and early WWII president's paralyzed feet were molded from clay, the recent discovery of a passle of private letters and diaries of a certain Margaret Stuckley makes quite specific one of the most effective ways that Roosevelt relieved the pressures of state.
Bill Murray wonderfully shapes FDR's public image from statesman to just plain man. He occasionally decorates his performance with gestures well-known from newsreel footage, but his task is not to imitate.
Within the confines both of his paralysis and the reined-in society he inhabits, Murray manages a zen-like acceptance of the gap between what ought to be and what actually is.
He captures perfectly FDR's balance of his wife's lesbian affairs with her wholly admirable passionate social conscience for the under-privileged. Knowing he must rely on the help and discretion of those around him, FDR finds a way to disguise and repress his natural tendency to self-reliance. Never forgetting his constant pain and frustration, he hones his refuge from vulnerability with wit, intelligence, and sharp humor.
It's an award-winning performance.
Matching him all the way is Laura Linney as Margaret - FDR's distant relative who redefines that phrase kissing cousins.
As befits a spinster of the era, her dress and demeanor are demure in the extreme. Which gives her evolving passion for the Pres a heat far more enveloping than the Duchess County summer.
The film fills you in with ease - if a tad too long in the telling - while it leads to the heart of the plot: that royal visit. UK audiences will need no reminding that King Bertie and his Queen were the parents of the present throne-sitter Elizabeth II. Nor that they were entitled by the complicated abdication of the King's brother Edward VIII. And, after last year's excellent King's Speech, regular cinema-goers won't need reminding of Bertie's own special emotional and physical burdens.
As the king and queen, Samuel West and the increasingly surprising Olivia Colman can't put a royal foot wrong.
The film is far more than a bio-pic - more like an x-ray. And very entertaining!
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| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 12/12/2012 : 12:02:07
Sounds wonderful! Thanks! |
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