Oscar bowed before The Queen with six nominations and Helen Mirren was the safest ever bet to win Best Actress. On the night, she didn't disappoint and while we admired her "dignity as the reigning monarch," we'd also venture to say that the film itself was highly overrated. HRH Elizabeth was reported to be 'amused' by it, which is nice, except that strictly speaking, it's not a comedy...

A Royal Portrait

"You draw the rules wherever you want them to be," says Frears on the question of the responsibility he owes to the living people he portrays. It's a bumptious opening to a superficial Making Of featurette weaved from interviews with cast and crew. Mirren offers the most interesting insights, first admitting that she was "more nervous about this role than any role I've had before."

She goes on to say that lightening the weight of expectation came in realising that the film is, in effect, an exercise in portraiture. "It's not a perfect reproduction," she explains. "It's imbued with their [the artist's] own psychology." Peter Morgan chips in occasionally, but doesn't say anything substantial about the process of researching his royal subjects. Draw your own conclusions...

In a commentary for the film, Morgan quickly brushes off an accusation that was levelled against him by "a toff" regarding the Queen's ceremonial dress. That's fair enough, but more shockingly he does admit to having been completely ignorant about the Queen's stint in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II. This is where she picked up a rudimentary knowledge of motor mechanics, but it was Frears, he says, who pointed this out to him. As a result he had to rewrite a scene where the Queen's jeep breaks down in a stream.

The Last Rights

For this reviewer, the most glaring omission in the film was a documented moment in Princess Diana's funeral procession when the Queen sensationally bowed to the passing coffin. Towards the end of the commentary, Frears admits that this was "a tremendously human moment" for the famously stoic Queen but blames the BBC for the absence of it in his final cut. He adds that the BBC showed "cowardice" and "wimpishness" for not handing over the footage, but what he does not explain is that prior to wrapping the shoot, neither he nor Morgan were aware that this incident had ever happened! That is why Mirren did not get a chance to play it. (Frears did confess this to us in an interview for BBC Film Network preceding the film's theatrical release.) By the way: notice how Morgan stays suspiciously quiet during the funeral scenes...

Text-based biographies for cast and crew and a stills gallery pad out the meagre bonus menu. If you didn't see the film in cinemas, you'll probably want to check it out on DVD. In truth though, it's not worth rolling out the red carpet for.

EXTRA FEATURES

The Queen DVD is released on Monday 12th March 2007.