"G...g.got anything by The Sex Pistols?"
The Royal Family must be very chuffed with the success of The King’s Speech. It shows the Queen’s Mom and Dad in a most humane light and even a committed anti-royalist like me was moved by George VI’s battle to overcome the debilitating stammer.
Needless to say Colin Firth is faultless in this role and if he doesn’t win the Oscar for this there is no justice. His double act with the equally sublime Geoffrey Rush as his speech therapist Lionel Logue is what makes the movie.
Tom Hooper’s direction doesn’t have to be flashy – he just has to make sure nothing draws the attention too far from these central performances. Thankfully he succeeds.
The music too, cannot be too fussy or overwhelming. Alexandre Desplat , is a solid and conservative choice to provide the soundtrack.
The French composer has already proved his worth on The Queen and ,on a less regal note, his music also graces the latest Harry Potter movie and The Twilight Saga.
Mostly it is pleasant, formal piano music that neither adds nor detracts from the action. His score has also been nominated for an Oscar although my prediction is that he will lose out to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ soundtrack to “The Social Network”.
The key role of music in the story is to help Bertie find his voice. To speak without hearing himself, Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro blasts out over the future King’s headphones to drown out his words as he reads from Hamlet.
As King, he would have been expected to listen to classical music like this in his spare time but, as further proof that our figurehead is not what he seems, he reveals to Lionel that his favourite song is Swanee River. Since he doesn’t stammer when he shouts, swears or sings, he is encouraged to sing words to this popular tune rather than say them “continue a sound and it will give you a flow” Lionel assures him.
The classic touch returns, however, for the movie’s grand finale . Beethoven’s 7th Symphony is the music played in the background to the delivery of the eve of war speech itself, adding to the sobriety and emotion of the occasion.
Ultimately, however, this is a movie where words speak louder than music.
