The Queen review

Stephen Frears has always been a director who has never shied away from tackling difficult subjects, and has usually succeeded in making films that are both thought-provoking and entertaining. He's also adept in bring strong female roles to the screen (Dangerous Liaisons, Mary Reilly and last year's Mrs Henderson Presents). Now he's chosen another prickly subject and given another actress - Helen Mirren - a valid shot at this year's film awards.

In his treatment of the life of Elizabeth II, Frears focuses on one of the most important turning points of her reign: her actions and reaction in the wake of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. This is not a conventional biopic per se, and is the stronger for it: by choosing to assess such a notorious event, Frears and his scriptwriter Peter Morgan allow us to glimpse behind the expensively lined curtains of Balmoral.

For many viewers, this will be the film's most interesting aspect. The hidden life of the modern royal family is exposed as one firmly rooted in tradition, and during the difficult August of 1997, this tradition was evidently out of fashion. As a result, her intransigence in properly coping with Diana's death lies at the heart of the film.

The relationships with those around her show the tricky situation she found herself in: traditionalists such as her husband bristle at the thought of opening up to the public, while the newly-elected Prime Minister struggles with his first major crisis, and cajoles her into her now famous softening.

Thanks to Helen Mirren's compelling performance, The Queen remains a convincing and often entertaining film for most of its running time. There's also a good deal of humour, although not always for the right reasons. But it doesn't shed any particularly new light on a period in recent history that has already been minutely analysed, and this flaw (which becomes more apparent as the film continues) makes it a modest success rather than a great one.