King speech

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.

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.