Film Techniques: Script

Here are some relevant notes on the way the film is scripted, as related to the way the film represents the characters in reference to History and Memory.

Script Techniques
An early part of the film uses alternative perspectives to build up to the Queen's first meeting with Blair as the new Prime Minister. Blair is portrayed as nervous, apprehensive and excited, whereas the Queen is shown to be blase, curious, self-assured and faintly horrified by the rumour that he will ask her to call him by his first name. The two sequences are intercut with one another to build momentum and drama... the differences between the two characters couldn't be more jarring, there is an obvious balance of power between these two that will affect the way they interact. This knowledge builds a sense of tension for the audience and ensures that the scene where these two characters meet is a point of our focus. It also suggests, historically speaking, that the Queen has met many Prime Ministers (something later confirmed in dialogue) and that she has, in a sense, seen it all before. Blair has met the Queen previously, but never as Prime Minister, something that we are made aware via dialogue and through the actor's adoption of boyish nervousness.

The script is quick to set the Queen up as an insulated figure. The news of Diana's death comes to her via a phone call to Robin (the Queen's private secretary), who then in turns informs the Queen. Also, the Queen doesn't actually find out that Blair is the new Prime Minister until the morning after the election, and receives the information from one of her servants in a casual manner as opposed to getting the news from the television like most people.

Indeed, in the midst of all the chaos and grief surrounding Diana's death, the film cuts to a scene of the Queen, Prince Philip and the Queen Mother dispassionately watching public leaders give consolations on the television whilst making idle chitchat about a large stag deer that has been spotted on the estate. Philip even tries to use the tragic events as an excuse to take Diana's two sons hunting! The film continues to set up the Queen as an insulated, out of touch figure by frequently depicting her and the other members of the Royal family in quiet idyllic scenes filled with casual discussion about the events going on outside in the 'real world'. A good example of this is the scene where Philip cooks a BBQ on the estate while the Queen prepares a picnic, and she mentions their issues in an offhand manner - by comparison, Blair is shown in busy political rooms filled with chatter and telephones ringing.

The script also sets up a cohesive beginning and end by framing the Princess Diana story with a larger story that focuses on the relationship between the Queen and Tony Blair. The film starts with the introduction of Blair as Prime Minister and his first audience with the Queen as such... in reality this actually took place four months before the death of Diana, though you wouldn't neccessarily guess this from the way the film is edited. This character dynamic runs all the way through the film with Blair becoming more confident with the way he talks or deals with the Queen, and ends with a climactic meeting between the two - heavily implied to be only the second time they have met in person as Queen and Prime Minister, despite it being nearly a year since Princess Diana died. The conversation that follows is a lot more revealing then the film's opening meeting (a meeting that only runs for a few cursory minutes), and at the end Robin pointedly looks at his watch as the Queen and Blair stroll out into the palace gardens - which suggests the Queen now respects Blair enough to spend quality time with him. Tellingly, it's also the only long/wide shot that features Blair, and this is where the film ends. Historically, these two figures are now on a more equal footing than when the film started.