Maybe I judge movies on a different scale than Jeff. I consider a movie good when it reaches me emotionally. This one didn't. It was more like a documentary. It was OK but kind of dull.

Wonderful, understated (but very arresting) portrayal about Elizabeth II and the reaction of the Royal Family to the death of Princess Diana. The casting and acting is superb, featuring a brilliant performance by Helen Mirren There is also effective use of actual film footage of Diana's funeral. Although the movie portrays Elizabeth and the other Royals as arrogant and distant from their grieving subjects, one cannot but feel a great deal of sympathy for the Queen, who, simply, has known no other life than that of a dignified, traditional monarch. This is a movie to view and savor, with an interesting theme that begs pondering: "Is the traditional but costly office of Queen or King in Britain obsolete and irrelevant?"

Although no one can really know exactly what went on in Queen Elizabeth's head after the tragic death of Princess Diana, this insightful and enthralling film takes a run at it and rings true at every turn. The total absence of public remorse on the part of the Royal Family who had treated Diana so abysmally in life was viewed by a large majority of the British people as cold, unfeeling and unconscionable. Only the massive and unprecedented outpouring of public grief and the coaxing and mediating efforts of the newly elected Prime Minister, Tony Blair, combined to finally wring from the Queen even a modest show of recognition for the country's deep feeling of loss and sorrow. This marvelous film tells that story in a way that is profoundly moving and completely believable. Helen Mirren is amazing as Elizabeth II. She doesn't just "play" the Queen; in every nuance of speech, expression and movement she becomes the Queen. The entire cast is exceptional. And although the Royals, especially Prince Philip, come off as arrogant, self-absorbed elitists (how could they be anything else?), that's not the focus of the film. This movie is about a new, young, vibrant Prime Minister (Michael Sheen) coaxing his old fashioned, tradition-steeped sovereign into a more up-to-date view of her nation and a new understanding of her relationship with her subjects. A subtle and exquisitely molded film. Simply marvelous.