What do you get when two men marry? You get arguments about the Netflix melodrama “The Crown.”
My husband is a stalwart defender of “The Crown.” At all times. This show inspired him to schedule a trip to Scotland, to see the Queen Mum’s castle. Once a self-described critic of All Things Royal, my husband now wants to see “The King’s Speech,” plan a tour of Buckingham Palace, and send photos of our infant son to Elizabeth II, who “might be interested.”
I have more of a tough-love approach to “The Crown.” I’ve spent many years thinking about Peter Morgan--I saw both versions of “Frost/Nixon,” trekked through the two major Helen Mirren outings, rented and studied “The Special Relationship”--and I find certain things grating. The can-I-or-can’t-I-trust-that-new-Prime Minister plot gets old. (We saw it with Tony Blair; we’re reliving it now, in Season Three of “The Crown.”) The will-Elizabeth-learn-to-display-emotion story is, similarly, recycled; we saw it in “The Queen,” and we’re seeing it again with the Wales plot line in “The Crown.” And do you know what happens when Margaret is sent on a mission? She promises to do one thing, then does another. I wonder if this story might be paying fewer and fewer dividends as time goes on.
All that said, I love one particular moment in Season Three--so far. It’s Helena Bonham Carter, getting in late. She is drunk and lost. Wales has suffered a major ecological disaster, a disaster HBC’s character doesn’t know about. Her husband is trying to explain what happened.
“Well, I didn’t know,” says Margaret (HBC). “I’m just returning from....from.....CAROLINE’S birthday party.”
And what I love is that, for a moment, Margaret can’t remember the name of the person whose birthday she just celebrated. This tiny decision--I imagine it was HBC’s--says so much about the character, and it’s so funny and shrewd and delightful.
So if I have a chance to celebrate Helena Bonham Carter--and to recall, however briefly, the glory days of “A Room with a View” AND “Howards End” AND “The King’s Speech” AND “Sweeney Todd” AND “Dark Shadows” AND “Harry Potter” AND “Suffragette," etc.--then I’m on-board.
Ms. Carter never studied acting; she invented her own method. She recalls that, on the set of “Room with a View,” when she was quite young, she didn’t really receive advice from her superiors. Though Judi Dench did, at some point, say: “Remember to have fun.” HBC always wanted to be a character actress--and she suffered through her ingenue days until she met Tim Burton and hit the jackpot. I’ll always welcome her back into my living room, and I’m grateful to “The Crown” for that.
And this is what’s happening at 16 Walnut Court. Bring on the tense living-room consultations. Bring on the quivering lips and pale faces. Bring on the corgis. If that’s what it takes to create a new HBC platform, then, once again, I’m game.
My husband is a stalwart defender of “The Crown.” At all times. This show inspired him to schedule a trip to Scotland, to see the Queen Mum’s castle. Once a self-described critic of All Things Royal, my husband now wants to see “The King’s Speech,” plan a tour of Buckingham Palace, and send photos of our infant son to Elizabeth II, who “might be interested.”
I have more of a tough-love approach to “The Crown.” I’ve spent many years thinking about Peter Morgan--I saw both versions of “Frost/Nixon,” trekked through the two major Helen Mirren outings, rented and studied “The Special Relationship”--and I find certain things grating. The can-I-or-can’t-I-trust-that-new-Prime Minister plot gets old. (We saw it with Tony Blair; we’re reliving it now, in Season Three of “The Crown.”) The will-Elizabeth-learn-to-display-emotion story is, similarly, recycled; we saw it in “The Queen,” and we’re seeing it again with the Wales plot line in “The Crown.” And do you know what happens when Margaret is sent on a mission? She promises to do one thing, then does another. I wonder if this story might be paying fewer and fewer dividends as time goes on.
All that said, I love one particular moment in Season Three--so far. It’s Helena Bonham Carter, getting in late. She is drunk and lost. Wales has suffered a major ecological disaster, a disaster HBC’s character doesn’t know about. Her husband is trying to explain what happened.
“Well, I didn’t know,” says Margaret (HBC). “I’m just returning from....from.....CAROLINE’S birthday party.”
And what I love is that, for a moment, Margaret can’t remember the name of the person whose birthday she just celebrated. This tiny decision--I imagine it was HBC’s--says so much about the character, and it’s so funny and shrewd and delightful.
So if I have a chance to celebrate Helena Bonham Carter--and to recall, however briefly, the glory days of “A Room with a View” AND “Howards End” AND “The King’s Speech” AND “Sweeney Todd” AND “Dark Shadows” AND “Harry Potter” AND “Suffragette," etc.--then I’m on-board.
Ms. Carter never studied acting; she invented her own method. She recalls that, on the set of “Room with a View,” when she was quite young, she didn’t really receive advice from her superiors. Though Judi Dench did, at some point, say: “Remember to have fun.” HBC always wanted to be a character actress--and she suffered through her ingenue days until she met Tim Burton and hit the jackpot. I’ll always welcome her back into my living room, and I’m grateful to “The Crown” for that.
And this is what’s happening at 16 Walnut Court. Bring on the tense living-room consultations. Bring on the quivering lips and pale faces. Bring on the corgis. If that’s what it takes to create a new HBC platform, then, once again, I’m game.
Comments
Post a Comment