Event: A View of The King's Speech

The Landmark Theater in West Los Angeles plays a more diverse range of films than many commercial theaters. This includes quite a lot of European films. One of these that has been playing recently is The King's Speech, which was made in cooperation between the UK and Australia. The film fits a current trend, set in the UK between the two world wars, and focuses on the royal family. It is the story of the Duke of York who overcomes a speech impediment as he succeeds his older brother to become King George VI and leads the UK into WW II.

The film was shot beautifully. The use of depth of field, composition, and focal length in regard to spatial distortion was stunning. This is the sort of thing that often distinguishes a European film from a Hollywood film. Depth of field was used to isolate subjects, and was so shallow at times that it drew a significant amount of attention to itself, which is counter to the typical Hollywood film, but it was really pleasant to watch. Composition was used to support the story by exaggerating the space between characters or creating a visual hierarchy which supported an emotional or intellectual one. Wide angle lenses were used to create spatial distortion which induced a negative feeling about the subject.

The king's speech therapist was an Australian, hence the UK/Australia co-production. He was thought a fraud because it turned out he was not a doctor. But he never claimed to be a doctor and in fact was more effective than any doctor. He had got his education in speech therapy because, as an actor, he found he was good at helping shell-shocked WW I soldiers returning to Australia. He developed non-traditional methods which actually worked, instead of the ridiculous methods the king's knighted doctors provided. These doctors were simply "yes men" who would not give the royal family any answer they believed the family did not want to hear and were useless.

The film was melodramatic at the beginning. In fact, it was too melodramatic, to the point of nausea. If this film had one weak point and one strong point, it would be that many elements were overdone. This is a weak point because it was distracting and detracted from the story, and a strong point because it was visually beautiful.