国王的演讲英文读后感

第一篇：国王的演讲英文读后感

The King’s Speech

32013100028 孟雨

This is a biopic about how King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, overcame his stuttering problem.Widely considered by all but his father unfit to be king, George is reluctantly thrust unto the throne and into the spotlight after his brother is forced to abdicate.Overshadowed on the global stage by powerful orators like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the King relies on the help of a little-known Australian speech therapist named Lionel Logue to find his voice and courageously lead his people into the most devastating war humanity has ever faced.This is a powerful, hilarious and deeply moving story, told against the backdrop of a critical juncture in modern history, of the emergence of a deep friendship out of a professional relationship between two men who would otherwise never have socially interacted.The screenplay, written by David Seidler(who also wrote Tucker: The Man and his Dream), is excellent.The dry British wit is hilarious.I was literally slapping my knee during some of the scenes.Tom Hooper(Elizabeth I)does a superb job directing this movie.The buildup to the climactic finale is skillfully executed and prompted the audience to erupt into spontaneous applause.(Apparently, this also happened at the Roy Thomson Hall premiere.)Geoffrey Rush(Elizabeth: The Golden Age)does a fantastic job as Lionel Logue and Colin Firth(A Single Man)is excellent as King George VI.I saw the second public screening of this movie at the Ryerson Theater during the Toronto International Film Festival(TIFF).Tom Hooper was present to introduce the movie.He was joined by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush after the movie ended for a brief Q&A.It turns out that David Seidler also had a stuttering problem as a child and drew inspiration from the king's struggle.Early in his career he wanted to write a screenplay about it.He dutifully asked the Queen Mother for permission.She agreed but told him “not in my lifetime”.Little did he know she would live to be 101 and he would have to wait another 30 years.Another interesting tidbit we learned was that near the end of the shoot, the crew finally located one of Lionel Logue's grandsons, who just so happened to live about 10 minutes away from the director.They got access to Lionel's diaries and correspondence and managed to incorporate some of it into the script.This movie is an unqualified must see.

第二篇：《国王的演讲》英文影评

A review of One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s nest There is a widespread anecdote : A frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.This story called The boiling frog.And One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s nest just demonstratses this phenomena.People in the cuckoo`s nest just like this frog who get accustoumed to the life that is schedualled and controlled by others and lose the courage to leave.And it takes a lot to go out this slowly heated water.People in the cuckoo`s nest who are compelled to eat medicine and listen harsh music and are not allowed to watch the ball game are threated badly.Although they always complain about the Cuckoo`s nest ,it never occurred that they want to flew over this disgusting place.They has adapted to the life of being principled ,and their awareness of resistance has died out.When Memurphy comes to there ,he begins to resist the authority of nurse Ralched by claiming to turn down the music and change the schedual to watch the ball game and bring people outside to go fishing.At last , the chief`s awareness of resistence comes to be aroused and leave this water that is slowly heated successfully.My review of The King`s Speech The success of the king`s speech lies in his strong perseverance as well as an equal and trustful relationship has been built between the king and Dr Longue.There is no doubt that the king is a man with a strong will,which is one factor of his success.In order to overcome his stuttering problem,he meets many doctors and suffers a lot,but he always doesn`t give up.At the beginning of the film,he puts up with the suffer of insertingr seven marbles,which gets him angry at last.He still goes to see Dr Longue although he has told his wife not to introduce any doctors to him.Besides,he insists on repeating tongue twisters even when he goes out to persuade his brother David.Another factor is that there is a relationship with total equality and trust.Owing to the king is faithful in Lionel,he can accept his special

methods

without

hesitation,such

as jumping ,shouting ,rolling on the ground,ect..Due to the equality and trust,the king considers Lionel as his friend,and shares what he has experienced when he was a child and his fear of his father and brother.So that Lionel gives the king faith in his voice and makes him believe in himself through communication with the king and stimulation by siting on Saint Edward`s chair.Therefore,the king can have courage to give a successful speech and becomes the symbol of nation resistence.

第三篇：国王的演讲英文观后感

King speech

第四篇：国王的演讲英文影评

Rarely do you get to see a movie that promises a lot and then, lives up to it's promise.The King's Speech is a rare piece, indeed.The movie starts off with a stammering speech and signs off with a staggering one, with hardly any glitches in between.The basic premise of the movie is fairly simple.A king with a stutter is helped by a maverick speech therapist to overcome his problem and become an inspiring orator.That sounds like a very known territory to most movie goers.But few minutes into the movie, and you realize that this one simply pushes the bar a notch higher.It is a very pleasing movie, doesn't lead the audience into a lot of uncomfortable questions.However, the artistry lies in the overall balance of the movie.You slowly start getting gripped by David Seidler's screenplay.The actors are superb, takes it slow and steady with superb grip on each of their characters.While Colin Firth puts in a spectacular performance(one you can't miss), Geoffrey Rush goes a bit more old school and pulls off a subtle and deep portrayal.One that fills up your heart but also keeps your brain active.Humor comes in here and there, with a very easy flow and steady pace.Not for a single moment do you perceive the movie as dull.Helena Bonham Carter is good.Guy Pearce is appropriate, though he does look a bit too casual at times(maybe that was an intentional character flaw).Most of the movie had been filmed indoors, albeit with eloquent art direction.But the occasional sequences shot outside had been filmed very beautifully, portraying a very dreamy picture of the then England.Sometimes, the camera goes in too close to the characters, and stays there for a while, just long enough to give us a sense of suffocation, quite an artistic equivalent of a speech disorder!But then again, negative shades had been whitewashed with joyous ones and you never perceive it as a dark movie.Direction wise, Tom Hooper is bang on!This is the kind of a movie where you want to give a lot of credit to the director.The set-up is such that the dramatic elements are high but needs to be tamed, so that it doesn't goes over board.And Mr.Hooper hits the bulls eye!Perfect balance.All points considered, it's a brilliant movie and a must watch.Even now, the die is being cast.By 5pm today Pacific Time(1am tomorrow GMT), academicians will have lodged the last of their Oscar votes.On Sunday, these may or may not provide The King's Speech with the coronation so many expect.Yet even if, in spite of that avalanche of nominations, this doesn't happen, perhaps it won't matter all that much.This film can manage without Hollywood's ultimate accolade.It's built its own legend already.本片不止获得了盛赞的影评、无数的奖项和惊人的票房收入。它让人们在街道上排队等待观影、在播放演职员表时起立鼓掌。本片是英国人热衷于拍摄的那种低成本历史剧，没有什么特效。因此其成功颠覆了许多传统看法。

It's not just the ecstatic reviews, the sackload of awards and the startling box office takings.This is a film that's had people queuing around the block to see it and standing up to applaud as the credits roll.Yet it's a low-budget costume piece of the kind the Brits have delivered so often before to no particular effect.Its triumph has therefore shattered much conventional wisdom.普遍看法是，如今不再有观众在大银幕上观看小成本戏剧。老影迷已经灭绝。英国电影别指望赚大钱：本土市场不够广阔；需要资金雄厚的投资商，但无从觅得；公共资助不足，而且投资者不知如何挑选优胜者；同时即便有优秀影片诞生，它们也进不了本土影院，遑论出口海外了。2 We were told that these days, there's no longer a big-screen audience for small-scale drama.That older cinemagoers have become extinct.That Britflicks shouldn't expect to hit the jackpot: our home market's not large enough;deep-pocketed investors are needed but can't be found;there isn't enough public funding, and those who disburse what there is don't know how to pick winners;while even if the right films were to get made, they couldn't get into our own cinemas, let alone the rest of the world's.现在英国人打开了眼界，但为了从此经验中受益，英国人还需要知道：为什么《国王的演讲》如此成功？

We've now learned different, but to benefit from this lesson, there's something we need to know.Just why has The King's Speech been such a success? 业内专家并不知道答案，因为他们并没有预料到本片的胜利。现在，他们会推崇Prescience公司和英国电影协会等投资方的远见、四象限受众选择法、针对评奖季的定位、Momentum公司和英国分销商的卓越营销，以及美国同行温斯坦兄弟机智的搭桥引线。不过他们也承认除此以外还有更多原因。We've now learned different, but to benefit from this lesson, there's something we need to know.Just why has The King's Speech been such a success? 于是，和许多评论家（以及电影艺术与科学学院奖的提名者）一样，这些专家表示他们相信本片有杰出的表演、精致的剧本、优秀的美术指导以及动人的摄影、服装、剪辑、作曲和混音。然而，即使你相信所有这些好评都不算过誉，但从什么时候开始电影只要够出色就能被大众接受呢？我们现在不是在谈论一部经典电影（本片还不够老），我们讨论的是一部大卖电影。大卖电影往往要引发共鸣，而不仅仅是铺陈其优点。

So, like many of the critics(and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominators), they point to what they deem to be magnificent acting, a fine script, classy production design and, for that matter, impressive cinematography, costumes, editing, score and sound-mix.Yet, even if you're sure that all this esteem isn't at least a little excessive, since when was mere excellence enough to bring in the crowds? We're not talking about a classic(yet);we're discussing a hit.And those tend to strike a chord, not just parade merit.《国王的演讲》导演汤姆·霍伯认为本片和《阿凡达》一样是在挖掘相同的跨文化理念。好吧，那到底是什么理念？

The film's director, Tom Hooper, has opined that The King's Speech appears to be mining the same cross-cultural myths as the likes of Avatar.OK, so what myths are we talking about? 一位美国分析师以《功夫梦》为范例，在本片中准确找到10个关键元素，证明本片就是披着一线大片外皮的B级片，和其他类似电影一样受他鄙视。对于小说家米歇尔·罗伯茨而言，本片就是关于性别的：“从艺术手法上讲，有缺陷的国王象征了所有普通人，当他重获话语权时，就能恢复所有力量。继而他可以领导人民去战斗。”

An American analyst has identified 10 key elements that locate the film firmly in the paradigm of The Karate Kid, thus revealing it to be a B-movie story decked out “in A-list rags”, like other such exercises he disdains.For novelist Michèle Roberts, it's all about gender: “The damaged king, who by artistic sleight of hand is Everyman, can be restored to full potency when he gets his voice back.Then he can lead his people into war.” 你被说服了吧？这就是麻烦所在：任何人都可以发表意见。如果你要用个人偏见来支持自己的理论，那么要如何证明你错了？询问影迷也没有多大作用，因为许多理论会臆断影迷们拥有一些潜意识反应，而且即便影迷认识到这种反应存在也可能不肯承认。不过，有一些常见的对电影的诠释好像非常合理。

Persuaded yet? That's the trouble with this game.Anyone can play.If you want to fuel your theory with your own prejudices, who's to prove you wrong? There's not even much point in asking cinemagoers, since many theories will assume subconscious responses which their owners might not own up to even if they were aware of them.Still, some frequently offered interpretations seem perfectly commonsensical.也许这就是一个讲述克服逆境的简单故事，其情节严格遵守《热带惊雷》中深刻阐明的道理：主角要有缺陷，但不能完全是白痴。或者它就是普通的男性友情电影，捎带描绘一点阶级对立、奇迹还有“每个成功的男人背后都有一个伟大的女人”。这些主题都挺俗，本片似乎没像其他电影那样强调这些主题。

Perhaps it's a straightforward matter of triumph over adversity, with the tale adhering strictly to the rule so memorably spelt out in Tropic Thunder: “Never go full retard.” Or it's a standard bromance, with a bit of class war table-turning and behind-every-successful-man-there's-a-strong-woman.All of these may be popular themes, but this film seems to deploy them less emphatically than plenty of others have done.于是我们必须考虑故事背景，转变为更独特、更具时代精神的观念。在部分被本片激怒的左撇子人群眼中，萧条世道所诱发的怀旧情绪“使得深为复古的《国王的演讲》受到过度的赞誉”。一些人则将本片受赞赏归因于“唐顿庄园综合症”，即华美服饰对受资本主义压迫的受害者有着过度的吸引力。其实应该是皇家服饰本身（我们在观赏“电影版的皇室婚礼”）让这些观众更为敏感。而且本片本可以展示浮华得多的场面，或许其有限的预算支持拍摄出壮观得多的景象。1 Consideration must therefore turn to the more glamorous, zeitgeisty notions that have been tossed into the frame.Nostalgia generated by hard times “accounts for the excess of admiration heaped on the deeply retro The King's Speech”, in the eyes of at least one of the lefties that the film has annoyed.Some such thinkers blame the “Downton Abbey syndrome”, that is, the perverse attraction of the trappings of poshness for the downtrodden victims of capitalist excess.That these should actually be the accoutrements of royalty itself(we're watching “a sort of cinematic royal wedding”)provokes even deeper alarm.Yet the film dwells on grandiose spectacle far less than it might have done, or perhaps than its limited budget would have allowed.人们相信社会同一性将消亡，于是民族自豪感得到了重振。对影片的这样一种诠释让一部分人痛苦，又让另一部分人欢欣。梅尔文·布拉格说：“在该电影的最后几分钟里，和我周围许多人一样，我深深地感动了。我觉得我们或者因为失去曾经的拥有而悲痛，或者在希冀能有所保留。我们希望自己独一无二而且被独立看待，这是很正常的。”1

The revival of national pride as a reaction to the supposed dissolution of social identity is another explanation that also distresses some.Still, it much cheers others.Here's Melvyn Bragg: “It seemed to me in the final minutes of that film, when like many around me I was deeply moved, that we either mourn the loss of what we had or wish to retain a version of it.Not unusually we want to be unique and to be seen to be unique.” 或许应该注意到，战时观众为出现在新闻短片里的乔治六世鼓掌，就好像当代英国人为《国王的演讲》鼓掌一样。不过，本片不止打动了英国人。它在海外赚到的票房是在本土的三倍。其中大部分来自美国，试图解释其原因的利基理论比比皆是。本片被认为“隐喻了奥巴马——又一位在艰难时期用话语感动人民，而被赞美、尊敬和崇拜的领导者”。1 It should perhaps be noted that wartime audiences applauded the real George VI's newsreel appearances just as our own applaud The King's Speech.Still, this film hasn't clicked only with the British.It's taken three times as much money overseas as it has here.Most of that's come from America, and niche theories as to why this should be so abound.The film's been considered “an allegory for the age of Barack Obama, another leader who has been celebrated, venerated, lionised for his ability, in challenging times, to move people with his words”.另一看法是，据说美国人很乐于看到区区殖民地百姓强硬对抗狂妄的英国佬（英国佬现在仍胆敢小看曾经附属国的臣民）。更重要的是，本片被认为是在颂扬来自新大陆的亲切随和、直白奔放的价值观和信仰，能治愈陈腐的欧洲人那呆板顽固的文化。“本片讲述的不是治疗口吃，而是治疗思想，”一位专家表示，“友谊对于伯蒂而言是有待探索的未知领域。洛格使伯蒂变得完善。”一些年轻英国人出人意料地喜欢此片，他们可能也喜欢这个观点。他们可能从片中看到了对老一代人粗暴态度的反抗。

Alternatively, Americans have been said to rejoice at seeing a mere colonial socking it to the snotty Brits, who still dare to look down on their former imperial subjects.More fundamentally, the film's been seen as celebrating the new world's informal, touchy-feely values and faith in therapy at the expense of the stiff-upper-lip culture of the stuffy Europeans.“This is not about fixing a voice, but fixing a mind,” notes one savant.“Friendship is a voyage into the unknown for Bertie.[Lionel] Logue is gluing him together.” Some of the younger Brits who've been unexpectedly keen on the film may also have liked this angle.They may see it as a rejection of the oppressive attitudes of the older generation.也许现在你有如下想法：《国王的演讲》显然结合了许许多多很有效的元素，一定就是这些元素单独的影响力累积起来，最后征服了观众。或者，你可能会总结认为该片有如此多吸引人之处，每个人总会为其中一处而着迷；所以本片爱好者是由多个完全不同的群体组成的。

Time, perhaps, to take a breath.Maybe by now you're thinking one of two things.The King's Speech clearly presses an impressive number of highly effective buttons.Surely it must be the cumulative effect of all these separate impacts that induces audiences to succumb.Or, you may be concluding that the film has so many attractive aspects that almost everybody will be beguiled by at least one of them;the throng of enthusiasts is therefore made up of entirely disparate sub-groups.我们可以很容易地从这些分析中找到自己认可的一种，但也许每一种分析都有一点站不住脚。如果回顾那些伟大的电影，从《乱世佳人》到《ET》，或者从《音乐之声》到《大白鲨》，我们也很难认同它们只是各种成功元素的大杂烩。总的来看，热门电影不是知道很多事的狐狸，而是知道一件大事的刺猬。（此比喻源自古希腊诗人阿寄洛克思。）那么，既然说了这么多他人的意见，下面我也来试试解开本片成功的奥秘。

It's easy to adopt either of these analyses, but perhaps each is a bit of a cop-out.When you look back at cinema's great successes, from Gone with the Wind to ET, or The Sound of Music to Jaws, it's hard to believe that any of them can be put down to a mere ragbag of ingredients.On the whole, the big-screen hit turns out to be not a fox that knows many things, but a hedgehog that knows one big one.So, since everyone else seems to have had a go, here's my stab at the riddle inside the enigma.本片的故事的确很有力而且讲得动听，但也并不特别。在我看来，是片中的政治内容将它提升到了现有高度。

This is indeed a robust and well-executed human story, but it's not an exceptional one.For my money, it's the political dimension that's taken it into the stratosphere.本片塑造了一个领导人，而且其上映适逢欧美领导人令许多民众感到失望。民众已心知肚明不能指望那些领导人来解决问题，但还是希望他们至少尽其所能。然而相反的，从英国到阿拉伯，那些领导人证明了他们只为自己考虑。而伯蒂只想尽自己的职责。为了做到这一点，他愿意承受辛劳和侮辱。但他甚至不会去行使权力，因为他的命运是成为君主，但不是支配国家。

The film is about a leader, and it comes at a time when many of us feel that our leaders have let us down.We've learned that we can't expect them to solve our problems, but we'd at least like them to do their best.Yet from Westminster to the Arab world, they've been demonstrating that instead, they're in it for themselves.Bertie, on the other hand, wants only to do his duty.To achieve this, he's prepared to submit himself to both exertion and indignity.In return, he won't even get to exercise power, since he's destined to reign, not rule.伦敦市长鲍里斯·约翰逊认为《国王的演讲》的成功，体现了对世袭制的广泛支持。从某种意义上说，他可能是正确的。英国人已经认识到，民主制需要候选的领导人作出虚假的承诺，当然，他们不可能兑现这些承诺。伯蒂没有必要承诺什么，因此也不需要抛弃他的诚信。Boris Johnson sees the success of The King's Speech as demonstrating popular support for the hereditary principle.In one sense, he could be right.We've come to realise that democracy requires potential leaders to make us false promises;naturally they then fail to fulfil them.Bertie has no need to make promises, and thus no need to forgo his integrity.伯蒂与我们所知的大部分领导人不同（他的对手希特勒是个典型），因为他不想要权力。人们和电影一样，更喜欢主人公有充分理由不情缘做主人公。人们常说，越贪心就越得不到。下议院议长根据仪式挪到他椅子上时不情不愿不是没有理由的。

He differs from most of the leaders we know of(archetypally Hitler, his antagonist)in that he doesn't want the job.People, like films, prefer reluctance in a hero with good reason.It's often been said that to want the top job should be enough to disqualify someone from actually getting it.Not for nothing is the speaker of the House of Commons ritually dragged unwillingly to his chair.伯蒂的弱点使我们感到亲切，而不会有损他在隆重仪式上的魅力，当然如果上I'm a Celebrity这种电视节目时就不一样了。虽然他是贵族，但他没成为伯灵顿俱乐部的公子哥儿，他并不拥有一切天然优势。与那些公子不同，即使某事物不再吸引他，他也会坚持下去。当然他的兄弟就放弃了，就像我们也会遗憾地痴迷于个人的权利欲望。

Bertie's vulnerability shows him to be one of us without negating the pomp that lends him glamour, as might an appearance on I'm a Celebrity.Though he's blue-blooded, he's not one of our own Bullingdon toffs, already blessed with every advantage that life can bestow.And unlike them, he won't be walking away if the game ceases to appeal to him.His brother, of course, does just that, his behaviour foreshadowing our own unfortunate obsession with personal rights and cravings.总之，我认为《国王的演讲》代替了现实生活中将令我们卖力鼓掌的演讲。当然这是一家之言。In short, The King's Speech stands in for the real-life speech that we're all desperate to applaud.But what do I know?

第五篇：国王的演讲英文观后感

国王的演讲英文观后感

篇一：国王的演讲英文>观后感

This is a biopic about how King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, overcame his stuttering problem.Widely considered by all but his father unfit to be king, George is reluctantly thrust unto the throne and into the spotlight after his brother is forced to abdicate.Overshadowed on the global stage by powerful orators like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the King relies on the help of a little-known Australian speech therapist named Lionel Logue to find his voice and courageously lead his people into the most devastating war humanity has ever faced.This is a powerful, hilarious and deeply moving story, told against the backdrop of a critical juncture in modern history, of the emergence of a deep friendship out of a professional relationship between two men who would otherwise never have socially interacted.The screenplay, written by David Seidler（who also wrote Tucker: The Man and his Dream），is excellent.The dry British wit is hilarious.I was literally slapping my knee during some of the scenes.Tom Hooper（Elizabeth I）does a superb job directing this movie.The buildup to the climactic finale is skillfully executed and prompted the audience to erupt into spontaneous applause.（Apparently, this also happened at the Roy Thomson Hall premiere.）Geoffrey Rush（Elizabeth: The Golden Age）does a fantastic job as Lionel Logue and Colin Firth（A Single Man）is excellent as King George VI.I saw the second public screening of this movie at the Ryerson Theater during the Toronto International Film Festival（TIFF）.Tom Hooper was present to introduce the movie.He was joined by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush after the movie ended for a brief Q&A.It turns out that David Seidler also had a stuttering problem as a child and drew inspiration from the king's struggle.Early in his career he wanted to write a screenplay about it.He dutifully asked the Queen Mother for permission.She agreed but told him 'not in my lifetime'.Little did he know she would live to be 101 and he would have to wait another 30 years.Another interesting tidbit we learned was that near the end of the shoot, the crew finally located one of Lionel Logue's grandsons, who just so happened to live about 10 minutes away from the director.They got access to Lionel's diaries and correspondence and managed to incorporate some of it into the script.This movie is an unqualified must see.篇二：国王的演讲英文观后感

Most of the movie had been filmed indoors, albeit with eloquent art direction.But the occasional sequences shot outside had been filmed very beautifully, portraying a very dreamy picture of the then England.Sometimes, the camera goes in too close to the characters, and stays there for a while, just long enough to give us a sense of suffocation, quite an artistic equivalent of a speech disorder!But then again, negative shades had been whitewashed with joyous ones and you never perceive it as a dark movie.Direction wise, Tom Hooper is bang on!This is the kind of a movie where you want to give a lot of credit to the director.The set-up is such that the dramatic elements are high but needs to be tamed, so that it doesn't goes over board.And Mr.Hooper hits the bulls eye!Perfect balance.All points considered, it's a brilliant movie and a must watch.篇三：国王的演讲英文观后感

The King's Speech is both a lot funnier and, strangely, a lot more polite than you'd probably expect.The humour mostly comes from Geoffrey Rush's speech therapist, who aims to cure Colin Firth's Duke of York's terrible stammer.And this is increasingly imperative;as the film begins, reigning monarch King George V（Michael Gambon）is ailing.There is some controversy over the next-in-line – Guy Pearce's Edward.Not only is Edward a bi-plane-flying, party-loving socialite but he is also in a relationship with American porcee Wallis Simpson（Eve Best）。Marrying her would cause a constitutional crisis – and potentially rip apart the Church of England.With the advent of radio, the monarch must be able to speak well, and Firth may well be in the job sooner than he thinks.After trying many options, wife Helena Bonham Carter's Elizabeth finally turns to an Antipodean, specialising in some rather unconventional techniques, based on London's Harley Street.The Duke and the speech therapist form an unlikely friendship, verbally and even physically bouncing off each other with middle-aged abandon.These scenes are the backbone of the film.They are funny, entertaining and performed by two actors obviously enjoying themselves enormously.Geoffrey Rush delivers great line after great line and Firth 'reacts' with a deadpan straightness.You'd wish there would be more of these moments.Additional comedy comes from some of the background characters.For instance, Timothy Spall's Winston Churchill rides the line of parody（mostly）successfully.As for the film's politeness – some of it comes, predictably, from Firth's monarch-in-waiting.He's mild-mannered and sensitive royalty, and Firth employs a similarly understated approach than that of his work in A Single Man.The portrayal is quintessentially English, and as good as we've come to expect from Firth recently.The remaining politeness comes from the film's level of drama.There are crown-loads of dramatic potential here – the troublesome father-son relationship between Gambon's truculent, demanding monarch and Firth's stammering son;the tension coming from the American interloper;the painful, unfolding, prelude to the Second World War playing out – but it's all background noise.Sometimes it feels forgotten about entirely, and historical perspective is, almost tastelessly, lost.And although there is a definite direction and development throughout the movie, there's only a sprinkling of edge-of-your-seat material.Any drama is tentative and inoffensive.So, although there is a lot of humour, crowd-pleasing fun and some award-worthy performances, there is a lack of edge and darkness here.Triumph over adversity is fine if you get the measure of bitter and sweetness right.The King's Speech fails, and the end result is questionable and problematic.