The King's Speech

by Jessica Wishart
(University of Massachusetts )

The King’s S-s-sp-speech

Imagine having to a-a-a-address an entire n-nation as their leading f-f-figure and not ba-b-b-being able to “get your words out.” The true story of the battle that King George VI, Bertie, faces, as he has to address his nation that they are entering World War II is a rare battle that director Tom Hooper portrays precisely. Bertie’s problem is that he can’t seem to say what he needs to without screaming, singing, cursing, or ballroom dancing around the room. He is too embarrassed to ask for help, but too desperate to not let specialists try to fix his stutter.

Therapist after therapist would try absurd methods of shoving marbles into his mouth and yelling at him to pronounce his words, leaving him choking on mouth full of spit but still searching for his words. His supportive wife finds an Australian fellow, Lionel Logue, whose even more unorthodox methods of speech therapy seems to be his last hope.

As these therapeutic speech sessions begin, Lionel, a witty, intelligent man who knows how to push Bertie’s buttons, wants to establish an equal status between the two of them. For the first time in his adult life Bertie is on a first name basis with someone outside his immediate family. Although Bertie and Lionel become good friends through their sessions of screaming out the window, and ballroom dancing, it is clear whom the royal gentleman is. The King is rarely seen without a tall black top hat to top off his freshly polished suits and ties. He is always alongside his posh Queen, whose face is usually half covered by large hats and whose body is draped in furs, feathers, and diamonds. Lionel on the other hand represents the country’s more common man sporting dull brown and gray suits. Their very diverse social classes don’t effect make it hard for them to connect immediately, but they soon realize they have a lot to offer one another.

The only tangible drama in the film is the family drama. Bertie’s eldest, pompous, bully of a brother, Edward, fights a battle within himself; to go on as king and continue his family’s legacy and his country, or to marry the America money-hungry, divorcee woman he ‘loves’; a typical scenario of “to be or not to be” but with much greater consequences that could leave England without a solid voice.

You would think that a movie based on an actual hierarchy in England would be full of political drama and action but this movie captures a behind the scene point of view within the castle’s hidden walls. It starts off slow and simple but picks up once the unconventional sessions begin. I would not call this a “laugh out loud” film, but I can guarantee that hearing a royal no-nonsense man have a conversation with his therapist through song and screaming the word “tits” is sure to bring out a subtle chuckle out among even the most serious adults. The King’s Speech turns an old-fashioned British drama into transfixing story of a man searching for a cure.