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Introduction
The King’s Speech is a 2010 film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. It is a biographical drama that follows the life of King George VI, specifically, his speech problems and friendship with an Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. The movie was widely praised by the critics, got twelve Oscar nominations, and won in four categories: Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay (BBC News, 2011, para. 1-2). The story encompasses a wide variety of topics, such as friendship, love, honor, duty, family, society expectations, social hierarchy, and many others. Most importantly, it portrays the life of a person struggling to overcome a speech disorder and shows how the physical aspect of speech difficulties is linked to deeper, emotional issues and traumatic past.
Analysis
The central problem of the main character is introduced right in the first scene, which is centered on the speech that Prince Albert delivered at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley in 1925. We feel the character’s perturbation from the beginning: he looks “as if attending his own funeral” (Bradshaw, 2011, para. 5). He fails to deliver a speech due to his severe stammering, and this event sets the foundation for the rest of the movie.
It is shown that the Prince has tried to treat his disorder but to no avail. He gave up the hope, which is why his wife Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother, finds Lionel Logue and sets up an appointment for Albert. Lionel employs not only physical remedies for stammering; he helps the Prince to find the roots of the problem in his childhood, and to address the traumatic memories, which is why Bradshaw (2011) calls the approach “psychoanalysis, disguised as speech therapy” (para. 5).
The Prince’s speech disorder and therapy expose a set of interpersonal conflicts. For instance, his father, King George V, tries to rather aggressively persuade Prince Albert to try and solve his stammering problem, stressing the fact that he has to conform to the high expectations of the society. Prince Edward, Albert’s brother, on the other hand, is a “smooth, obnoxious bully” (Bradshaw, 2011, para. 9) and mocks his stammering.
Through his therapeutic sessions with Lionel, Albert realizes that his complicated relationship with Edward was one of the principal causes of his speech disorder. Nevertheless, the overall experience of the character is still affirmative due to many positive interactions. Elizabeth, for instance, is shown as a kind and loving wife who supports the Prince in all circumstances. The most significant relationship of the movie, however, is between Albert and Lionel.
Lionel Logue managed to considerably alleviate Albert’s impediment, despite having no formal qualifications and being a self-taught specialist (The Telegraph, 2010, para. 6). More significantly, however, he became his close friend. After the King’s death in 1952, Lionel received a letter from Queen Elizabeth, in which she “told Logue that her husband had owed him a debt of gratitude for helping him not merely with his stutter, but his whole life” (Walker, 2010, para. 2).
Despite the fact that the movie only covers one of the 25 years of this relationship (Glass, 2011, para. 11), the impact that Lionel had on Albert’s life is clearly shown, for it is Logue who helps the King to reach the resolution of his conflict.
In the climactic scene of the film, Albert has to deliver his first wartime speech as the new King in a live broadcast addressing the entire country. The success of the speech is momentous: the society sees King George VI as a weaker leader than his brother, primarily due to his public speaking issues. Moreover, it is clear that Albert doubts himself; he believes that he is a poor fit for the throne and feels incredibly anxious about leading the country. Both his wife and Logue provide reassurance he needs, and the King manages to deliver the speech successfully. The scene resolves not just the conflict between Albert and the society, but also his inner conflict: we notice the change in his confidence as he walks out to see the people applauding.
References
BBC News (2011). Oscars 2011: The King’s Speech reigns. BBC News. Web.
Bradshaw, P. (2011). The King’s Speech – Review. The Guardian. Web.
Canning, I. (Producer) & Hooper, T. (Director). (2010). The King’s Speech [Motion picture]. United Kingdom: Momentum Pictures.
The Telegraph (2010). The King’s Speech: how Lionel Logue cured King George VI’s stammer. The Telegraph. Web.
Walker, T. (2010). Queen Elizabeth’s posthumous endorsement of Lionel Logue.The Telegraph. Web.
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