Jerry Seinfeld said during one of his stand up shows that a fear of death was second to a fear of public speaking. This, he concluded, meant that during a funeral, most people would rather be in the coffin than giving the eulogy. Whether the statistic is true or not, this does highlight what for many people is an issue and it is with this fear that we find our protagonist of The King’s Speech battling against.
In short, Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech is about King George VI and the speech therapist that helped him overcome his lifelong affliction to become a stabilising wartime monarch for the people of Britain. The film is more than competently directed and the three leads (Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter) carry the film and the weaker supporting roles. The script by David Seidler doesn’t isolate and is often witty, offering a fractured and human royal family. The film is never boring, but only really shines when Firth and Rush verbally spar. The imminent threat of war is never quite the danger it should be and the film lacks the greater historical relevance it aims for.
What has likely made the film as popular as it is and keeps it relevant and interesting is that a fear of public speaking (glossophobia, apparently) is such a common issue that we instantly relate to and care about Firth’s King George VI. Even when we know what to say, saying it in front of an audience is difficult. Now imagine that audience is the whole commonwealth and the speech is so important that its aims are to unite people against the threat of fascism. King George, or the Duke of York as he is early on, has a vulnerability that makes his progression throughout the film easily traceable and the director is therefore able to manipulate us easily into the final, rousing third and his expected successful wartime speech. Expect much award attention, but not all deserved.
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