Stephen Frears, utilises the director's imagined memories of the events succeeding Diana's death to portray the Queen, and her actions, in a warmer light. A compelling and challenging view of Diana is also presented in the film, furthering Frears' purpose of convincing the audience of the difficulty of the Queen's position and hence softening the public image of her. Diana is initially presented through a montage of grainy archival footage, where Diana almost seems to be courting and teasing the media with her image. While this archival media footage adds authenticity to Frears' account, it also demonstrates how insulting this behaviour would have been to the rigid policies of the monarchy. Thus as Diana is depicted as causing trouble for the monarchy, sympathy for the Queen's position upon her death is created. This compelling portrayal of Diana, through historical footage, allows Frears to validate his personal memories and in this way the symbiotic nature of history and memory is revealed.

insights into Queen Elizabeth II's emotions during the aftermath of Diana's death can be gained through observing the interplay between the collective and personal memories of the event. Frears' imagined interpretation of the Queen's vulnerability challenges the public's collective memory of Diana's death. Frears' perspective is immediately depicted in the opening intertextual quote from Shakespeare's Henry IV: "uneasy lies the head that wears a crown". Sympathy is created as Frears suggests the difficulty of the Queen's role of being a leader, a role that she interpreted as having to be stoic and strong. This is supported by Robin Janvrin's confession to Blair, body language and expression secretive: "this public reaction has completely thrown her". The Queen came onto the throne at the age of 27, and it was a role that she had become accustomed to by the time of these events, believing she needed to be powerful in the face of adversity. Realising that this was suddenly not wanted by the public perplexed her. This is demonstrated as Frears selects events from his personal interpretation and uses a high angle long shot as the Queen retreats into nature at Barmoral Castle. The vast landscape and the camera angle is symbolic of the Queen's insignificance as she cannot comprehend the abrupt changes to her role. Frears adds authenticity to his account through his costuming and casting, which closely imitates the characters being portrayed. Hence Frears' perceived memory, assisted with historical data, generates compelling insights into the Queen's experience of the time, and thus creating unexpected sympathy for her difficult position.

The Queen is represented as in a confused struggle between protocol and precedent and the desires and needs of her people. This comes across subtly, through the character’s facial expressions at the sight or sound of her people’s disappointment with her behavior, and more explicitly through her dialogue, where she comments “I chose to keep my feelings to myself. Foolishly, I believed that was what the people wanted from her Queen” to Tony Blair. In many ways, this fulfills the purpose of Frears film, to represent the unexplored memories of this significant historical event; the untold stories which allow an individual to gain a more global understanding on all dimensions of the implications and significance of certain moments in history

In the construction of a representation of history, it is individual and collective memory which conjures an understanding of the historical figure or event, yet it is historically accurate details and trivialities which authenticate such representations. Physical evidence and relevant historical details are essential in constructing both history and context as they create direct links to memory. Frears interweaves the imagined and the real into a believable representation of history, in order to tap into and make a connection with the collective memory and individual’s personal memories of the historic event. He achieves this through incorporating researched historical accuracies into the narrative. This is exemplified in the character of Cherie Blair, who is constructed to be critical of the Monarchy through dialogue and her actions, most notably when she offers a shallow curtsy to the Queen and calls the royals “a bunch of freeloading, emotionally retarded nutters.” It is a widely accepted historical fact that Cherie Blair was an anti-monarchist who offered disrespectful curtsies only to the Queen. The inclusion of such a historical truth by Frears makes the representation of both history and memory more believable by creating a direct link to the historical understanding of Cherie Blair and the way that people remember her.

History can only be recorded retrospectively; hence, to a degree it relies on memory. The interplay of history and memory therefore can result in new understandings of events and people, ones which are now reshaped and coloured by individual and collective memories. In the post modern era, history has lost its monopoly over the production and conservation of the past, and memory has developed independently. Frears explores this notion in The Queen through his representation of collective memory. Archival footage which is weaved into the film communicates a particular collective memory, which is in many ways just as relevant to the actual death of Princess Diana as the car crash itself. The archival footage is an authentic means of representing memories synonymous with the death of Diana-grown men exploding in tears at the news of her death, mountains of flowers outside Buckingham palace and irate Britons expressing their anger at the monarchy’s failure to respond to their needs. Frears, through the inclusion of such footage, is attempting to represent how a particular collective memory can reshape and impact on the way an historical event, in this case the death of Princess Diana, is remembered and referred to in the future.
When fact and memory combine, history becomes more authentic
When history and memory are represented in duality, a insightful truth emerges g the decline of the royal family as representing the English mindset. However, Fears also utilizes a MIS-en-scene in which the queen appears only in a quarter screen and the majordomo towers over her with his meek request of, “charities...actors...fashion designers...other celebrities,” to attend the funeral in place of
“soldiers...dignitaries...heads of state...” portraying an utterly defeated Elizabeth II. She appears no longer stoic, but frail and uncomfortable, creating a strong sense of sympathy from the audience. Hence, through a combination of this cutting between a queen publicly seen as cold, and a queen personally seen as frail, the audience perceives the relation of personal memory and fact in establishing the unprecedented and interesting perception of a Queen.
Like Stephen Frears, the editor David Leser through the article The Biggest Hit employs a combination of the collective memory of Down Under as an iconic Australian classic with deep sentimental values with court documentation and details of the plagiarism trial. This is attained through the incorporation of techniques in two key paragraphs - the use of dialogue from legal documents damaging the authenticity of the piece, and the evident admiration for culture, falling away for the money. The historical information of the song regards it as stolen because of specific representations of desiccation of musicology as proven through the Australian Copyright Act (1968) through the use of euphemism. “The “objective similarity” between the two work, as well as “casual connection” is what mattered most,” is what Leser uses to suggest the unanticipated

Summary:
The perfect combination of historical extrapolation and subversive political commentary, "The Queen" sheds a new light on the British monarchy and the government. Helen Mirren and the rest of Stephen Frears' fabulous cast make you feel as if you're watching real events transpire.

Story:
After the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales in 1997, Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) and the Royal Family retreat to Balmoral Castle in Scotland while the country mourns and wonder why they haven't appeared to make a public statement. For the country's new Prime Minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), it's his chance to win the country over, while treading the delicate tightrope of trying to offer advice to the Queen on how she and her family can reconnect with the people of England.

Analysis:
One might think that a movie about the Royal Family and its relationship with the people of England and their newly elected Prime Minister might not be of interest to anyone outside of the country. Those unfamiliar with this tentative relationship might need to be brought up to speed, which is why it's great that director Stephen Frears ("Dirty Pretty Things"), working from a brilliant script by Peter Morgan, has found a way to take you behind closed doors for an instant lesson in British government and its relationship to the monarchy.

The story begins with Tony Blair being elected by a landslide as England looks for a change from nearly two decades of Torey rule. During Blair's first awkward meeting with the Queen, we're given the first glimpse of the pomp and protocol that surrounds the Queen and her control over elected officials, and really, that's all you need to know to understand the complex relationship at the heart of the movie.

The death of Prince Charles' former wife Diana, recreated in a tasteful and sensitive manner, sets the stage for a change in the status quo, as the Royal Family must come to grips with their negative feelings towards Diana after the couple's high profile divorce. While the country goes into deep mourning, the Royal Family retreat to their Scottish estate, refusing to make a statement, since they see Diana's death as one that doesn't affect them once Diana stopped being part of their family. Yet thousands of mourners stand vigil outside Buckingham Palace, blocking the gates with flowers and memorial cards, waiting for the Queen to return to London and forcing Blair to step in when people start calling for the Queen's retirement.

The main furor behind the very concept of this movie probably comes from the way that the beloved Royal Family are depicted as callous and unfeeling about anything besides their own lives. The Queen's husband Prince Phillip, played by James Cromwell, comes across as particularly unsympathetic in the way he states things few others will say aloud; the Queen Mum seems just clueless and out of touch. On the other side of the equation are Blair's press secretary Alastair Campbell and his wife, who act as the "voice of the people," often expressing their own contempt for the Royal Family's pretentious and boorish behavior.

Regardless of your opinions on the matter, this is a great follow-up to "Mrs. Henderson Presents" for Stephen Frears, his experience in making visually stimulating films coming to the fore, even during the predominant dialogue scenes, as he cuts back and forth between the two main characters and their views on the events, the television news almost always being on in the background. The mix of actual news footage and interviews with recreations using the cast further thins the veneer between fact and fiction, to the point where you forget you're watching actors playing roles, especially when they appear in television coverage.

A lot of this mix of reality and fiction working has to be credited to Peter Morgan's sharply-written screenplay—his second great script of the year after "The Last King of Scotland"—both of them fictionalizing accounts of real people and events. Morgan does a brilliant job surmising the conversations that must have been going on behind the closed doors of Balmoral and No. 10 Downing Street, but it also includes a brilliant bit of fiction involving a stag on the grounds of the castle that receives more concern and attention from the Queen than Diana's death.

Despite the sad events, the movie is surprisingly witty as the various characters take pot shots at each other, much like people do in real life, but also giving the viewer a chance to find humor in the most mundane of circumstances. When Philip comes to bed and calls the Queen "cabbage"—his pet name for her—and asks her to move over, you can't help but smile at the very thought of Royals acting like ordinary humans. It's the key to why "The Queen" ultimately works so well, because as much as some might feel that the movie condemns or satirizes the Royal Family for their lack of action as the nation mourned, it does an amazing job humanizing them due to the fantastic cast Frears has assembled.

Helen Mirren's performance as the Queen is a clear standout, as she suppresses and restrains her emotions to perfectly capture the queen's stoic and proper nature, carried over even into moments when no one else is around. At one point, the Queen is driving her Land Rover into the country—just thinking those words is worth a chuckle—and when it breaks down, so does she, finally allowing the emotions of her situation to wash over her.

Michael Sheen's experience portraying Tony Blair in "The Deal," a previous Frears/Morgan collaboration, really helps, because he fully embodies the role of a Prime Minister during his first year, while taking on the self-proclaimed "institution"—as the Queen calls it—for the greater good of the country. Really, the entire cast is solid across the board from Alex Jennings as Prince Charles, who has a touching and tastefully handled moment when he views Diana's body in France, to smaller roles like the Royal Family's personal secretary Robin Janvrin (Roger Allam), all of which add something to the mix.

After an hour and a half of watching the Queen fight the pressure to make a public statement, she and her family finally return to London and greet the people face-to-face, something that hasn't happened since the end of WWII, and we get the sigh of relief that the movie has been building up to. Even Blair's view of the family is changed as he finds himself defending them against the naysayers in his entourage. A few months later, all of the tension has passed, as the epilogue clearly hints at the irony that years later, Blair himself will become just as unpopular among the British people for his part in the Iraq War.

The Bottom Line:
It's almost impossible to be outraged by this subversive look at the presumed behind the scenes happenings during a sorrowful week in British history, but the combination of real-life drama and humorous banter, solid writing with stunning performances, makes this one of the strongest and most impactive films this year.

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