The King's Speech: Difference between revisions

'''Lionel''': ...Yes, you do. }}

'''''The King's Speech''''' is a 2010 period film, directed by Tom Hooper and starring [[Colin Firth]], [[Geoffrey Rush]], and [[Helena Bonham Carter]]. The film depicts the early years of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and his struggle with a severe speech impediment that kept him from carrying out public speaking engagements. His wife Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, enlists the services of failed Australian actor-turned-speech therapist Lionel Logue to help her husband. Logue's unconventional methods do indeed begin to make some progress. Meanwhile, however, Prince Albert's older brother Edward VIII makes a royal botch of his own marriage plans, thrusting him even further into the spotlight, even as [[Adolf Hitler|another famous public speaker]] is stirring up trouble on the continent.

The film earned strong positive reviews, particularly for lead actor Colin Firth. It was nominated for twelve [[Academy AwardsAward]]s (the most nominations for any film that year) and won four of them: Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director, and -- most importantly -- Best Picture.

*** Possibly a rather odd form of [[Why Are You Not My Son?]] (as Bertie IS George V's son, just not the right birth order), as George V was actually known to have thought Bertie would make a better King than David, and to openly say he hoped David would never marry, so that "there is no one between Bertie and [[HM The Queen|Lilibet]] and the throne."

**** Given the context of George V's rant, [[Why Are You Not My Son?|Why Are You Not My (Firstborn) Son]] is probably correct. He listed "your brother, the future king" as doing a number of disgraceful things, engaging in irresponsible and unkingly behaviourbehavior that was going to wreck the country. He was saying this while getting Bertie to try speaking at the microphone -- because he could almost foresee that Bertie would end up as king whether he wanted it or not.

* [[Bowdlerization]]: In order to maximize the film's profits, the film - an [[Academy Award|Oscar-winning]] feature - was re-released in the United States with some content cut out to avoid an R rating. The recutre-cut film, released in theaters around and after the Oscars, had the PG-13 rating attached to it. (Seesee [[Cluster F -Bomb]], below, for most of what got cut.).

* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: Lionel Logue. {{spoiler|Hell, it turns out he's not even accredited or trained - he just happened to be excellent at treating people with speech disorders when people kept asking him to treat shellshockedshell-shocked [[World War OneI]] veterans. As he points out, there weren't any schools then - just thousands of wounded veterans who needed his help. No wonder his treatment was so effective.}}.

** This is mainly In-Universe. To his contemporiescontemporaries, Logue's methods would have seemed bizarre or foolish, but to a modern audience they seem fairly straightforward. At the time, it seems, no-one except Logue would admit that psychology was involved in a speech disorder and by modern standards, the only other speech therapist that we see looks like a total quack.

{{quote|''' {{spoiler|George VI}}''' {{spoiler|(sobbing after learning he's to be king) I'm just a naval officer! It's all I know how to be}}...}}}}

** As pointed out above, this was cut out in order to release a recutre-cut version of the film that gathered a PG-13 rating.

'''Lionel Logue:''' Makes it official then. }}

** If you think about it, Logue telling Bertie, "I believe inhaling smoke will kill you" makes perfect sense once you remember that Logue served in the trenches in [[World War OneI]] and had seen the effects of gassing on young men. And, indeed, that's [[Harsher in Hindsight|exactly how Bertie died]].

* [[Don't Call Me "Sir"!|Don't Call Me Doctor]]: Lionel Logue is insistent with future King George VI to call him "Lionel" and not "Doctor" {{spoiler|justified: Lionel is not a Doctor, and if you check carefully, he has never once claimed that he was}}.

* [[Exact Words]]: Throughout the film, Bertie attempts to keep things formal by calling Lionel "Doctor Logue,", while Lionel insists on a first-name basis. Later, the king is told that Lionel actually has no certificates or qualifications at all. He's mortified and furious, until Lionel gently points out that ''Bertie'' was the one who insisted on calling him "Doctor" and that Lionel has never advertised himself as such.

'''Albert:''' [impatiently] Yes, [[Who Watches the Watchmen?|and who'll "sort out" Herr Hitler?!]] }}

'''King George VI''': I don't know, but he seems to be saying it rather well. }}

** There's a very slight example of [[Did Not Do the Research]] here. George VI could more than likely understand the speech Hitler was making in this scene. Queen Victoria was fluent in German, George V could understand it, his wife Queen Mary was born in Germany, and George VI learntlearned it as a child, as did the princesses. The joke works quite well, though.

** George was a strong supporter of [[Neville Chamberlain]]'s appeasement policy (though the film doesn't really say otherwise, since it more or less skips over the 1937-1939 period), going so far as to breach protocol and endorse Chamberlain's policy prior to the sitting of the House of Commons. However, this was the consensus attitude for the period, something most people tend to overlook in favourfavor of just blaming Chamberlain. (Thisthis attitude makes a great deal more sense when you remember that Britain had only just started to recover from the devastation of WWI.). The film also has [[Stanley Baldwin]] resigning over misjudging Hitler, which wasn't the case; he was simply ready to retire after fifteen years as leader of the Conservative Party.

** Although King George and Logue were on very friendly terms, Logue observed proper decorum and never went as far as to call him "Bertie.".

** Timothy Spall as [[Winston Churchill]] (though [[Justified Trope|Churchill was one too]]);.

** For David/Edward, it's more of a case of [[Overly Long Name]]. David (full name Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor), chose his first name as his regnalregal name, but went by David among his family.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: The film's trailer, to convey the premise as concisely as possible, refers to Colin Firth's character as the King throughout (when in fact he spends a large part of the film as merely the Duke of York), even going so far as to redubre-dub the moment when Logue is informed who his new client really is.

'''King George VI:''' I have no idea what an Australian might do for that sort of money. }}

* [[Reluctant Ruler]]: Prince Albert/King George VI. He never wanted the throne, but seeing his wastrel brother screw up and abdicate for a twice divorced and Nazi sympathizer girlfriend, he has no choice in the matter, likewise Edward who is more of the [[Rebel Prince]] variety completely breaks down when he is told that he will be king.

** David was a bit of a [[Jerkass]], [[Kick the Dog|mocking]] his brother's stuttering and thinking Albert wanted to take over his place, while Albert was only trying to geniunelygenuinely help his brother get his act together because he ''didn't'' want to be king.

'''Bertie''': T-... timing is n-not... my strong suit. }}

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Or rather, there ''were'' none. Lionel cut his therapeutic teeth treating the speech disorders of shell-shocked [[World War OneI]] veterans, and quickly figured out that what they needed most desperately was a friendly ear. And as it turns out, Bertie had never had anyone to tell about the miserable childhood that fostered his stutter, including the fact that it took his parents ''three years'' to notice that the nanny was starving him. <ref> The incident with the nurse was dramatized for the film; in real life, she didn't starve them, and it was ''David'', not Bertie, whom she would pinch before taking him to see his parents.</ref>

* [[Wham! Line]]: "What if my husband were the Duke of York?" Cue [[Oh Crap]] look when Lionel Logue finally recognisesrecognizes that he's talking to the Duchess of York.

* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]: A very short one that notes Bertie and Lionel {{spoiler|remained friends for the rest of their lives.}}.

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