The King's Speech (2010)

The nation awaits...

Are you good at public speaking?

At best it’s an exhilarating challenge – a bull you take by the horns and swirl up in the air to thrill the crowds. At worst, it’s a nausea inducing, dry mouthed, sweaty palmed business that leaves you tongue-tied when a hundred faces are gazing at you with such expectation. Add a stammer and things can become very uncomfortable. Is there help? Welcome to The King’s Speech.


At the centre is Prince Albert, Duke of York/King George VI – a man with a stutter and a King with a speech to make. Helping him is Lionel Logue, a speech therapist from (wait for it) Australia, living in London. They are bound in what becomes a mutual struggle for one to overcome a stutter and the other to uncover the root causes that lie behind the stutter, thereby helping the King manage his public addresses with dignity and authority. It's a little known story, but a true one.

Whether Logue’s methods are a success remains to be seen (I will not spoil the plot). There is psychological trauma stemming from an emotionally restricted childhood. There is sibling rivalry concealed under finely tuned and well-practiced royal decorum. There is a wife’s love for her husband, and her concern that he is never made to feel ashamed and that his stutter does not get in the way of his royal duties. Then there is war, grim and dark. And… radio too – a new invention that must be utilized to its full and wondrous capacity. The King must rise to the occasion, overcome his fears, and deal with a forbidding technology and an even more forbidding enemy, as a nation waits for a royal assurance on the country’s stand against Hitler and his advancing army.

The royal couple

Colin Firth delivers a royal performance – he is in turns indignant and humble, sometimes flying into rages, and sometimes tender and helpless. It’s a difficult role to play, not only because of the stutter and its limitations, but also because of the valiant efforts required to overcome it. It’s all about the voice, the expressions, the frustrations and the improvements.

Logue’s character, played by Geoffrey Rush, is professional and assured in his abilities and methods, and remains unperturbed in the face of suspicions regarding his career and credentials. Treating the King is no easy or simple matter, but the doctor – patient relationship and the trust implied in that has to take precedence over all other matters, royal and personal.

Logue: Speaking truth to power

I loved the sharpness and the wit of Elizabeth, Duchess of York/Queen Elizabeth. Helena Bonham Carter (who appears to be wearing matching shoes all through the movie) brings out a character full of spirit, hope and endurance. She has a calming influence on the King, and appears to give him a quiet sense of strength through the trials and tribulations of ‘kinging.’

A wonderful movie with a talented cast, the movie has already won a multitude of awards. Directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler (who himself overcame a stutter), The King’s Speech is a battle of wills between two men, but with one goal in mind. Bringing out your ‘voice’ requires courage, conviction and trust, and this movie has it all and more. An Oscar winner? I sure hope so. Find out more at www.kingsspeech.com

Here’s Firth and Rush talking about the movie:


Video © Associated Press
Images © www.kingsspeech.com