I would guess that there’s little overlap between the PBS crowd and people who would avoid this movie fearing excessive sex or violence based solely on the R rating. In fact I’d say that the PBS crowd has largely already seen this movie.
I once flipped through a copy of his autobiography. No mention of fascism or racism, of course, but he was definitely clueless. Near as I could tell, his only interest in life was clothes.
We finally got to see the movie yesterday and it was well worth the effort. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend two hours, and the ‘R’ rating didn’t keep the theater from filling up, although American prudery never fails to confound me. It was an excellent story about perseverence and strength of character. Rush was emoting as usual, but it worked for the most part. Colin Firth was just outstanding as an insecure man who is having history thrust upon him. The girl who played the young Elizabeth is a stunner and we’ll likely be seeing much more of her in future years.
Wow! Saw this on Sunday, and loved it. Almost cried a couple of times curtsy scene, and the “confrontation” in Westminster
A very well done film.
The only detracting thing for me, which served to rip me out of the movie (and this just might be me alone), was that Colin Firth, in certain lighting or camera angles looked like the freak twin brother of Stephen Harper. Weird and disturbing, but a damn good film.
According to Wikipedia, Logue was a Christian Scientist. I wish the movie might have shed light on how this fact may have helped shape his attitude towards doctors and the development of his techniques.
Luckily for them the movie does not have an R-equivelant rating in most countries where it would be relevant to the curriculum. The King’s Speech is rated 12A (children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult) in the UK, PG in Canada, and M in Australia and New Zealand. Wikipedia tells me that while the “M” does stand for “Mature” there are no age restrictions on that rating, so kids could see it even without an adult. I guess it’s roughly equivalent to an American PG-13.
I just saw it tonight and wanted to resurrect the thread to say I loved the contrast between David falling on his mother at the King’s death (she has no idea what to do, he’s sobbing and she’s holding out her arms and not willing to even hug him) and Bertie reading official documents and weeping with frustration and terror, with Bonham-Carter immediately comforting him.
That was a wonderful movie.
This touched me, too.
I’ve loathed David/Edward for a long time – I’d understood that he abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson and had the fascist sympathies and all that, and I was always brought up with the idea that there are Certain Duties All Of Us Have – but while this movie portrayed him as the self-centered twerp I’ve always assumed, he does get one moment of sympathy.
His father’s died, and he’s sobbing – possibly feeling sorry for himself or thinking of Wallis but possibly, just possibly, feeling grief at losing his father – and his own mother, even in private, can’t manage to even attempt to comfort him. It struck me then why Wallis drew him in so completely. She gave him real affection, and he was starved for it.
I still don’t like him, but I doubt he’d care. 
This article says the Queen has ‘given it her approval’.
Just adding to the chorus. I also saw this today, by myself, on a whim. So glad I did. Beautiful film. Somehow, the movie managed to be both moving and fun, and those two don’t seem to come together very often for me.
I’ve only seen four of the nominated films thus far (TS3, Inception and True Grit), but it has my vote right now.
Surprising, but gratifying. Thanks for the link.
I couldn’t agree more. I saw it on Sunday and now, on Tuesday, I love it even more. I wish more movies could just tell a story the way this film did: quietly, simply, and full of grace.
I’ve seen 7 of the 10 nominated films* and this is definitely my front-runner, with True Grit coming in as a very very close second.
*Still to see: Social Network, The Kids are All Right, and Winter’s Bone
I’ve also seen 7 out of 10 (127 Hours, Winter’s Bone, The Fighter). King’s Speech is my favorite, and the one I think will win, although I think Black Swan was the most powerful & impressive.
Finally saw the movie last night. I thought it was quite good–interesting with excellent performances all around. However, I’m not sure I would chose it for Best Picture (I’ve only seen three of the nominees) because I still like Inception better.
I thought David/Edward came off as a real prick in the movie (especially in the scene where he mocks Bertie’s/George’s stutter). The portrayal of Wallis Simpson as the gold-digger of all gold-diggers wasn’t much better.
From what I’ve read, he was a real prick. He knew full well what his obligations were, and he ignored them.
We saw it two weeks ago and loved it also.
I saw him on Broadway in Breaking the Code where he played Alan Turing - with a stammer. Typecast, I suppose.
Heh. It was fun to play Spot the British Actor! like in Harry Potter (although I didn’t figure out Timothy Spall until the credits) and, while SOCIAL NETWORK still was my fave picture of the nominees so far, I wouldn’t mind this (or TOY STORY 3) taking the gold.
It was a freezing winter day but the Westchester NY theater I was in was about 1/3 full. The film is also still playing in the giant prestigious one-screen Ziegfeld downtown. A couple of rows in front of me was a mom with three tween boys, and they behaved perfectly (she told me she’d warned them about the cursing) and were having an interesting discussion about WWII as we left.
I was totally wrapped up in it and didn’t start to feel jerked around like at THE BLACK SWAN. Rush is coming to Brooklyn soon and it looks like I’ll try to go and see my first Gogol play. Oscars for everybody ('cept I won’t mind if Andrew Garfield wins either).
We saw it a few weeks ago and itwas fantastic! All the acting was brilliant. I think The Kings Speech may sweep The Oscars.
You better get on the ball; that thing opened February 11 and only runs (unless it extends) until March 12.
Am I the only one who wants to start calling people twonks every time I see the guy who played Churchill? Yer twonk.