When sound made its way into cinema, it revolutionised the Hollywood star system. The actors whose vocal skills weren’t up to their looks lost their careers and film producers started looking to the theatre circuit for talent with enunciation. For George VI, the advent of radio broadcasts meant having to confront his speech impediment. The King’s Speech dramatises this process with gusto.

 

 

 

 

 

The film begins at the empire exhibition at Wembley stadium, where the future King (played with immaculate timing by Colin Firth) fails to convince as a public speaker. His wife (Helena Boham Carter) finds an Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush), whose reputation exceeds his social standing. The sessions don’t proceed smoothly at first, and how could they? The essence of therapy is engendering trust. For a King, that’s a tall order. The breaking point comes when George VI begins to let his guard down, as his outrage at the Australian’s audacity grows into amusement. In fact, every actor in the film seems to hide a cheeky smirk beneath their measured masks of pristine manners. They’re in a good production, and they know it.

The cinematography and editing are quite brilliant without being flashy. Director Tom Hooper (The Damned United) and cinematographer Danny Cohen (This Is England) are effective at framing the wide rooms and tall ceilings of royal accommodation. Symmetrical compositions are utilised rarely, which turns them into visual punchlines when they do appear. There are lots of extreme close-ups, and much deep focus photography. The first scene contains a compelling point-of-view shot – a crowd behind a microphone – that oozes instant identification. Period detail is recreated with subtlety and precision, rather than the kind of unwarranted nostalgia that permeates the medium all too often.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a narrative level, The King’s Speech is almost entirely predictable. Its crisis and resolution arrive at the pace dictated by plot formula manuals. We know what must happen, and we are glad that it does. There are specks of humour, truth and beauty to be found along the way, but the destination was never in question. Considering the budget, the film is a technical marvel. All in all, it’s a worthy story, expertly told.

 

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