The King’s Speech:

B...B...B...Bertie’s trial

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

The most interesting feature about Tom Hooper’s 2010 Academy Award winning British period drama, The King’s Speech, lies in its distinct theme. Though at first glance it shows monarchs period costumes and atmospheric fog, a second look indicates that this is a unique slice-of-life of a king’s lifelong struggle to overcome his stammer and fear.

The opening of the film strikes this cord and sets the tone of the subject when it projects the Duke of York, Albert aka Bertie, addressing a Wembley Stadium crowd with halting bits and pieces of words. The solution to the tragedy presents itself in the form of a speech therapist named Lionel Logue who manages not only to knock some sense into the unyielding Bertie but also defines royalty by insisting that they practice their sessions at his place with a firm “My castle, my rules”.

Ironically though Lionel works magic on Bertie, he is a failed actor who harbours a passion for Shakespeare’s plays. However he is by no means a failure when it comes to training Bertie to control is body and address the root cause of his stammer.

Colin Firth’s Duke of York is painted in uncomplicated shades. As a man with a goodwill who does not even like to hear a word of treason against his reigning older brother, Edward VIII, Bertie’s only drawback is the fear he has bottled up within himself.

This terror is not projected by his visage but through his uncontrollable stammer which does not allow him to make speeches or talk at length clearly. This forces him to retreat into silence and fuels his temper to the brink of insanity.

Elizabeth

Duke of York, Albert aka Bertie

Both the sons of King George V possess a fear in taking over the kingship after the father. It is not only the fact that they are afraid that they will never make as good a king as their father but also the fact that England is on the verge of war with Germany. This is displayed in two instances when Edward and Bertie breakdown before their family members as they try to cope with the pressures of royalty.

Edward gets away with it by preferring to renounce his throne to marry a twice-divorced American woman. However Bertie, who had been constantly bullied from childhood by a demanding father, an overbearing elder sibling and a cruel nanny, finally overcomes his fears and wins the nation’s hearts by succeeding as King George VI of England.

What is truly touching about the movie is the blossoming relationship between Bertie and his speech coach.

Though it starts off in an uneven note, a combative and respectful friendship forms between them which does not shatter even when Lionel owns up that he does not have any credentials except experience and a “great deal of nerve” to his name.

Bertie is also shown in more humane light with all his flaws and discrepancies. This links him with the common man. The audience actually feels for him in his miseries and joy.

Firth carries off Bertie’s character with excellence. His well-modulated performances do not devolve into caricature. Geoffrey Rush’s portrayal of Lionel too deserves applause, especially in the way the actor handles his unruffled facial expressions, brisk replies and calculated action. He carries the role with ease, much in the lines of a professional speech therapist.

Helena Bonham Carter’s role may not be in the picture at most times but she shines as Bertie’s impeccably loyal wife. True to the idiom ‘behind every successful man is a woman’, there is good intention behind all of her actions.

As a lady of the royal family, she carries herself with poise but as a warm-hearted human being she is gracious and humble.

Written by David Seidler The King’s Speech is an enjoyable and absorbing true-life drama.

Though the underdog here is a King, the fact that it is the hard won triumph of a very humane king that wins the audience’s heart.