Mirren acclaimed as Queen

Queen Elizabeth was unable to comprehend British public grief at Princess Diana's death in 1997, but was finally convinced that she should cast aside stiff royal protocol by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, a new film suggests.

Stephen Frears' The Queen was screened at the Venice Film Festival yesterday, where it is flying the British flag in the main competition section.

Helen Mirren, who has just won an Emmy for her title role in the mini-series Elizabeth I, had the unusual task of portraying a living monarch in a film that also explores the then newly elected Blair's central role in the crisis. With tightly rolled silver hair and her voice trained to match that of the monarch, Mirren gives a convincing performance, full of sympathy for a woman struggling to abandon the stiff upper lip she thought her people wanted.

The film-makers say extensive research, including speaking to sources close to the Royal Family and Downing Street, resulted in a realistic dramatisation, with the film suggesting that Blair saw the Queen as a mother figure. (Reuters)

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