The King's Speech

Although I am disturbed by the fact he is older than my dad, I don't think I could love Colin Firth any more. He's brilliant in all sense of the word. So perfectly English and proper, yet so boyish and cheeky and charming and I love him. Excuse me whilst I gush embarrassingly in cliché whilst acting as though I am some sort of reviewing authority.

The King's Speech is excellent. Quite possibly his finest role to date, and I thought A Single Man would be his defining film. I don't know what it is, or why it is happening, but it seems as though the world is just realising how good an actor he is. No longer is he the blithering idiot or the dreamy heart-throb (although I'm never going to turn down an opportunity to see him emerge from a lake). Did I mention I love him?

I think I must have cried all the way through the film. Genuine tears. It was so unsettlingly uplifting I felt that it was all I could do. But here's the thing: he had no friends. I cannot CANNOT physically deal with the thought of people having no friends, it actually breaks my heart. And as if that wasn't enough with his adorable lisp and heartbreaking stammer he goes on to tell of how his nanny didn't feed him because she loved his brother more than him. I genuinely don't understand how I appeared to be the only one sobbing uncontrollably at that concept. I felt destroyed, inconsolable; how could anyone in their right mind do that to Colin Firth?! Yet I left feeling overwhelmingly proud of a King I never even knew existed. (Don't ask me where I thought the Queen appeared from as I would not be able to give you an answer that would avoid me looking like a total moron and then squirming on the floor in shame as people threw dirt on me). I guess that this was the intention of the film though.

Slash, I did become slightly confused as to why Dumbledore was there, but then again, he has always remained a mysterious fellow. Perhaps he was indeed the grandfather of the Queen. Oh my God, Prince Harry is actually Harry Potter! Please excuse me whilst I ring every publication in the land; they're going to want to hear about this...

In all seriousness though, it was amazing. So funny, so tragic, Guy Pearce played the perfect arse as per usual. Colin Firth will most definitely be nominated for another Oscar, and if he's not, you better believe the letter of complaint I'm already writing about Leonardo DiCaprio's snubs is going to get a lot more heated. I would so love him to win! I feel like all of a sudden I've become prim and proper just by spending an hour and a half listening to perfect Queen's English. I shall begin to use words such as 'shan't' and 'alas' in the correct context rather than to express my woes as to the X Factor result. Geoffrey Rush as well. So funny. Another definite Oscar contender. I'm almost positive he'll win. I'm actually struggling to put into words the impact of it as a whole. It's hardly the type of film to mess with your mind and then help you find redemption through the main character or leave you suicidal in confusion. It's a nice film. But I feel it's more than that.

What I loved most about it was that it stripped all pompous and mystique away from the Royal family whilst highlighting their importance in times of despair. As pathetic and cliché as it sounds, it genuinely took you on a journey and left you feeling, well, left me feeling, really proud to be British. I cried because it was happy, I cried because it was sad. I cried because it was about friendship and trust and I cried because Colin Firth is so damn brilliant that he can convey all his emotion just through his eyes! And you don't even realise it! You actually find yourself looking into them as if asking him how to feel. And he's always right.

I don't want to be completely biased because I think technically Geoffrey Rush was better. It wasn't a film about King George, it was about both of them and I now feel as though I could trust Geoffrey (were now on a first name basis) with my life. I want a speech impediment just so he can help me. Helena Bonham Carter was disappointingly forgettable, but I feel like she was meant to be. She was more there there to nudge the story along rather than take centre stage and it made it feel all the more real. The last thing the film needed was to suddenly become a biopic of his whole life. I would have stormed off in anger. It was just right.

I was told I would love it, and I did. And not just because I fancy Colin Firth, even though he's older than my dad.