The King's Speech -- Great Acting Adds Heft to Charming but Slight Film

“The King’s Speech” is a delightful trifle. It is put together so well by director Tom Hooper and has such a splendid and humane lead performance from Colin Firth that some may mistake it for more than it is. It’s a television-level story tarted up with glistening vocabulary, great sets and costumes, and solid direction. You can polish a piece of glass until it shines brilliantly, but that doesn’t make it a diamond. (I was not exactly surprised when I learned that Hooper is a television director trying his hand at cinema.)

Firth plays Prince Albert, who ascended the British throne just a few years before the start of World War II. We meet him several years before this, when his father, King George V, was in his dotage. Albert and his devoted wife (beautifully and warmly played by Helena Bonham Carter) have been in a years-long struggle to cure Albert of his near-constant stammer. They finally come upon an unorthodox, peculiar speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush, injecting much humor into the role) who becomes a close confidant and aide to Albert all through his reign.

One of the many joys of this enjoyable little film is the extraordinary experience of seeing Firth, Carter and Rush on the screen at the same time. I sometimes felt I had died and gone to acting heaven. Hooper apparently coached them to bring out the humility and warmth of their characters, rather than the stoicism and scholarship that actors typically exude when they play royalty. This was much appreciated.

But it cannot be denied that the story doesn’t go much beyond a celebration of self-esteem. Great acting it may be, but, as a film, great art it is not.