The King's Speech (2010)

Academy Awards, USA 2011

Won Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Iain Canning Emile Sherman Gareth Unwin
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Colin Firth
	Best Achievement in Directing Tom Hooper
	Best Writing, Original Screenplay David Seidler
Nominated Oscar	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Geoffrey Rush
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Helena Bonham Carter
	Best Achievement in Cinematography Danny Cohen
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Tariq Anwar
	Best Achievement in Costume Design Jenny Beavan
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score Alexandre Desplat
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Paul Hamblin Martin Jensen John Midgley
	Best Achievement in Art Direction Eve Stewart (production designer) Judy Farr (set decorator)

The Weinstein Company
Directed by Tom Hooper
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Weinstein Company)

A prince reluctantly becomes a king when his brother gives up the crown to marry a divorced woman. The newly crowned king seeks out a therapist to correct his lifelong speech stammer. After other physicians have failed, he goes to the unconventional Geoffrey Rush, a man with little or no credentials but plenty of results. The two strike up an unlikely friendship during his long days of therapy. Meanwhile, Hitler invades Poland and England declares war on Germany. The king is called upon to rally the nation with an incredibly important speech to be broadcast on radio. It is up to Rush to help him through, as therapist, English citizen and friend. Beautifully filmed on many UK locations with a (mostly) fluid camera, though the inevitable modern shakiness does occasionally creep into some scenes. Firth is stunning in the lead role, and Rush almost his equal. My only gripe would be a certain coldness to Firth's character that makes it hard to sympathize with him at times.