The physician at the movies Peter E. Dans, MD Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth (as Prince Albert/King George VI), and Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech (2010). The Weinstein Company,/Photofest. The King’s Speech helphimrelaxhisvocalcordsandtogivehimconfidencein Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, anxiousmoments.Heisalsotoldtoputpebblesinhismouth Guy Pearce, and Derek Jacobi. like Demosthenes was said to have done to speak over the Directed by Tom Hooper. Rated R and PG. Running time 118 waves.Allthatdoesismakehimalmostchoketodeath. minutes. His concerned wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), poses as a Mrs. Johnson to enlist the aid of an unorthodox box-officefavoritewithanupliftingcoherentstorywins speechtherapist,LionelLogue,playedwithgustobyGeoffrey the Academy Award as Best Picture. Stop the presses! Rush. Firth deserved his Academy Award for his excellent AThefilm chronicles the transformation of the Duke of York job in reproducing the disability and capturing the Duke’s (ColinFirth),wholookslike“adeerintheheadlights”ashe diffidence while maintaining his awareness of being a royal. stammers and stutters before a large crowd at Wembley Still,itisRushwhomakesthemoviecomealiveandhasthe StadiumattheclosingoftheEmpireExhibitionin1925, best lines, some from Shakespeare—he apologizes to Mrs. J tohisdeliveryofaspeechthatralliesanationatwar fortheshabbinessofhisstudiowithalinefromOthellothat in1939.Thedoctorswhoattendtowhattheycall being“poorandcontentisrich,andrichenough.”Refusingto tongue-tiednessadvocatecigarettesmokingto discloseherhusband’sidentity,theDuchesstellsLoguethat 42 The Pharos/Summer2011 his job requires public speaking. On be- ingtoldthathecan’tchangejobs,Logue asksifheisanindenturedservantandthe Duchessresponds,“Somethinglikethat.” The relationship between the Duke andLoguestartsawkwardlyasLoguein- siststhatthesessionsbeconductedinhis “castle,”accordingtohisrules.Heinsists thatthattheycalloneanotherLioneland “Bertie,”theDuke’sfamiliarname,sothat they can be “equal.” The Duke responds that if they were equal he wouldn’t be there. Later, his father King George V (MichaelGambon),afterflawlesslygiving a Christmas speech to the nation, tells his son that the advent of microphones Colin Firth in The King’s Speech (2010). The Weinstein Company,/Photofest. andradioshasusheredinanerainwhich “wehavetobecomeactors”and“invade” people’shomes. Logue tries to get a personal history but the Duke resists. Told that infants don’t stammer, the ahashofhistory.2TheloveaffairoftheDuke’sbrother,King Duke admits that the affliction began when he was four or EdwardVIII(GuyPearce),withWallisSimpson(EveBest)of five,whichapparentlyiscommon.Hedoesn’tstammerwhen Baltimoreisalsointroduced.TheArchbishopofCanterbury he talks to himself or sings, so Logue records him speaking (DerekJacobi)saysEdwardcan’tmarryher,notbecauseshe Hamlet’ssoliloquy“Tobeornottobe”andthensingingitto is American, but because she was twice divorced with two Mozart. They try tongue twisters to relax his tongue, exer- livingex-husbands.Edwardisportrayedasheadoverheelsin cisestostrengthenhisabdominalmuscles,garglingtolimber love,veryshallow,andsympathetictothefascists.Simpson’s uphisthroat,andjumpingandotherexercisestogethimto good favor is also being cultivated by the Nazi secretary of relaxandstopbeingsostiff.WhenLogueseeshimsmokinga StateVonRibbentrop,whosendshercarnationsdaily.Edward cigarette,hetellshimtostop.Toldthathisphysiciansadvised finallyabdicatesonDecember30,1936,tomarrySimpsonand it,Loguesays,“They’reidiots.”GeorgeVIdiedatfifty-six,hav- dischargeshislastdutyaskingandemperor. ingsufferedfromcoronaryandperipheralarterydiseaseand After becoming King George VI, his daughters Elizabeth undergoneapneumonectomyforlungcancer. and Margaret curtsy rather than run into the welcoming Whenhisfatherdies,Bertieistoldthathislastwordswere hug he offers. Protestors support Edward but George wins “Bertiehasmoregutsthanallhisbrothers.”Helamentsthat the public over. The King’s wife arranges a rapprochement hisfathercouldn’tsaythistohisfaceandrecountsthathewas at Logue’s apartment and they are reunited at Westminster left-handedandhowtheKingmadehimwearpainfulsplints Abbey to prepare for the coronation. The King tells the toforcehimtonotusehislefthand.Helikedbuildingmodel Archbishop of Canterbury to skedaddle while he practices planes,buthadtocollectstampsashisfatherdid.TheDuke withhisspeechtherapist.Beforedoingso,heconfrontsLogue talksabouthisbrotherJohnny,“asweetboy”whohadepilepsy aboutbeingneitheracertifiedpsychologistnoradoctor,but andwashiddenfromview,thendiedatthirteen.Bertiewas a failed Australian actor. Logue makes a great plea for the reassured that it wasn’t “catching” and thus responsible for pitfallsofcredentialism(somethingoursocietysuffersfrom) hisailment.LoguehasawayofgettingBertietounwindby bysayinghehelpedAustralianswhocouldn’tspeakafterre- usingprofanity;itwastheprofanitythatgavethemovieanR turningfromWorldWarIbygivingthemfaithintheirown rating,buttheproducersthenscrubbeditandrereleasedthe voices.Hehadnocredentials,onlysuccessfulexperience.The filmwithaPGratingtogainawideraudience.1Moreabout King’sfearsareonlypartiallyassuaged,thinkingthatlikehis thislater. forebear King George III who suffered from porphyria and After a walk in the park with Logue during which the wascalledMadGeorge,3hewouldbecalledMadGeorgeThe Duke agrees that he knows little of the common man and Stammerer.TherefollowsawonderfulsceneasLoguegoads thatthecommonmanknowslittleofwhathegoesthrough, himintofindinghisvoice,whichhedisplaysduringhisspeech aperiodofalienationsetsinbetweenthem.Thisallowsthe totheEmpireontheoccasionofEngland’sdeclarationofwar filmmakertocapsulepoliticaleventsvis-à-visGermanywith withGermany.TheclosingcreditsrevealthatLoguecoached scatteredsnapshots,atechniquethatonecriticcalledmaking him during this and every speech during the war and they The Pharos/Summer2011 43 The physician at the movies remained friends for life. Logue was granted a Knighthood andtherankofCommanderoftheRoyalVictorianorderof chivalry,whichrewardspersonalservicetothemonarch. IespeciallylikedthescenesoftheDukewithhischildren andLoguewithhisashetriesunsuccessfullytostumpthem abouttheirknowledgeofShakespeare.Ialsoenjoyedseeing the famous Bovril sign that proclaimed that it “nourishes you to resist flu.” It appeared in many postwar British films whenvehiclespassedthroughPiccadillyCircusandalsowas areminderofthefluepidemicthatdevastatedtheworldfrom 1918totheearly1920s.Abeneficialeffectofthefilmhasbeen thelargejumpinthenumberofstutterersseekingtherapy.4 The scenes with profanity garnered the most publicity. James Lipton, who hosts Inside the Actor’s Studio with an off-puttingpomposityandaffectation,gushedoverthescenes whileinterviewingFirth.AnnHornaday,theWashington Post critic,calledtheratingboardmembers“prigs”forassigning the rating and thus cautioning parents of teenagers against theirseeinganotherwise“wholesomeandedifying”film.5By contrast,havinggrownupinthe1930sand1940s,Icouldn’t believethatLogueactuallyusedthesemethodsandwondered ifitwasjusttheinventionofapost-1968screenwriterinsert- inghisownvulgarandpotty-mouthvocabularyintothefilm toavoidthedreadedGratingandtoappealtohipcinephiles who prefer their films served up “edgy” and loaded with Anna Paquin and Goran Visnjic in The Courageous Heart of Irena F-bombs.Iwashappytolearnthat“Loguewasreputednever Sendler. CBS/Photofest. to have sworn in front of the king, nor ever to have called The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler him“Bertie.”6Asitturnedoutthen,itwastheOscaraward- winningscreenwriterDavidSeidlerwhowasresponsible,not Starring Anna Paquin, Marcia Gay Harden, and Goran Visnjic. thoseso-called“prigs.”Inshort,myrecommendationistoig- Directed by John Kent Harrison. Not rated. Running time 95 norethedubioushistoryaswellasthemake-believesurround- minutes. ingLogue’smethodsandjustenjoythefilmasentertainment. Youmightwatchforcameoappearancesbyotherfineactors his low-budget Hallmark made-for-television film does likeAnthonyAndrews,ClaireBloom,andJenniferEhle. not have the cinematic production values of many HollywoodT films,butasthetitleimplies,ithas“heart.”Ittells References thestoryofIrenaSendler(playedbyAcademyAwardwinner 1. KungM.Cleanupof“King’sSpeech.”WallStreetJ2011Mar1. Anna Paquin), whose physician father took care of patients http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870374950457617292 otherPolishdoctorsrefusedtocarefor,manyofwhomwere 3055211438.html?KEYWORDS=The+King%27s+Speech. Jewish. In doing so, he contracted typhus and died in 1917 2. Podhoretz J. Royal fairy tale: Modern British history as the whenshewasseven.1Ingratitude,Jewishcommunityleaders cinemalikestorememberit.WeeklyStandard2011Feb7:39. paidforhereducationandsheattendedWarsawUniversity. 3. DansPE.Thephysicianatthemovies:TheMadnessofKing Thereshewassuspendedforthreeyearsafteropposingthe George.ThePharosSummer1995:58:50–51. segregationofJewsinwhatwascalledthe“ghettobench”sys- 4. CeasarS.“TheKing’sSpeech”bringsstutterersoutoftheshad- tem,whichbeganin1935andwaslegalizedin1937,whereby owsandintotherapy.LosAngelesTimes2011Feb25.http://www. Jewish students were required to sit on the left side of the latimes.com/business/la-fi-stuttering-business-20110225,0,6457196. lecturehallinasectionspecificallyreservedforthem. story. Astheoldadagegoes,theappledidnotfallfarfromthe 5.HornadayA.TheKing’sSpeech:Thatcertainsomething:By tree. Irena begins helping Jewish children as director of the George, Firth’s got it! Washington Post 2010 Dec 17. http://www. SocialWelfareDepartmentinWarsawin1939and,oncethe