The film tells the true story of the Prince Albert and the speech therapist that helped him manage his stammer. That was a rather important process, as the rise of radio and the abdication of his older brother coincided with the rise of Hitler and a moment when Great Britain rather needed an inspiring head of state.
The story does a good job of documenting the burdens of being the public face of a country. Yglesias favorably cited the film as an example of the merits of having a constitutional monarch, presumably because you don't want your head of government to also deal with the difficulties of being head of state. Of course, it's a plight that comes with enormous privileges and as this particular tale shows modern figureheads have more options when it comes to receiving non-sycophantic advice, assuming they can bring themselves to take it.
But it's mainly worth seeing because it's a terrific story that's well acted. While dramatized, I do think it also stayed very true to demonstrating what the British public heard. Colin Firth gave a very consistent vocal performance that captured eccentricities in the monarch's speech and even at the end did not make him into something he was not. Geoffrey Rush similarly does an excellent job grounding the film, although I think he was helped in that task by playing an exceptional individual who walked a very fine line in using an equality-based treatment of royalty. Helena Bonham Carter is particularly delightful as Prince Albert's wife Elizabeth, who goes a long way towards humanizing him by showing his excellent taste in a spouse.
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