Biopic of the Litter
-Or-
And On the Seventh Day, God Rolled Credits
Finally saw The Queen the other day. I'm sorry I put it off. Of all the Best Picture nominees this year, it's the one that really moves.
The conventional biopic seems to me to be built on multiple episodes leading up to the hero's breaking point, followed by their ultimate redemption. See The Aviator, or Ray. The problem with that structure? First of all, it makes the films feel interminably slow. We simply aren't being guided toward an answer to a bigger question. The question is often just "Where will this end?" (or in my case, "Is this ever going to end?").
The Queen is so simple. It pits Elizabeth II against the newly-elected Tony Blair in the days following Princess Di's death. The big question being, will Elizabeth cave to the pressure to show public grief for this massively popular woman who was no longer part of the family?
The dramatic question being so simple creates two immediate benefits: first, this question has a limited shelf life. The movie takes place over six days. We know our answer can only be so far down the road. We know we're not, for instance, going to have to watch Elizabeth react to her mum's death, or Charles's engagement to Camilla, or Harry stupidly wearing that Nazi costume to a Halloween party. Instead, the movie propels itself toward its ending (the "answer") like a guided missile.
The second benefit? By having a very simple plot structure, there's lots of room for character. The movie tells the story of a woman through the story of this particular dilemma.
Why the hell is this such a rare choice for a biopic?
And On the Seventh Day, God Rolled Credits
Finally saw The Queen the other day. I'm sorry I put it off. Of all the Best Picture nominees this year, it's the one that really moves.
The conventional biopic seems to me to be built on multiple episodes leading up to the hero's breaking point, followed by their ultimate redemption. See The Aviator, or Ray. The problem with that structure? First of all, it makes the films feel interminably slow. We simply aren't being guided toward an answer to a bigger question. The question is often just "Where will this end?" (or in my case, "Is this ever going to end?").
The Queen is so simple. It pits Elizabeth II against the newly-elected Tony Blair in the days following Princess Di's death. The big question being, will Elizabeth cave to the pressure to show public grief for this massively popular woman who was no longer part of the family?
The dramatic question being so simple creates two immediate benefits: first, this question has a limited shelf life. The movie takes place over six days. We know our answer can only be so far down the road. We know we're not, for instance, going to have to watch Elizabeth react to her mum's death, or Charles's engagement to Camilla, or Harry stupidly wearing that Nazi costume to a Halloween party. Instead, the movie propels itself toward its ending (the "answer") like a guided missile.
The second benefit? By having a very simple plot structure, there's lots of room for character. The movie tells the story of a woman through the story of this particular dilemma.
Why the hell is this such a rare choice for a biopic?
posted by Jennica at 9:39 a.m.
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