The Madness of King George

King George III (Nigel Hawthorne) isn't well. He is not on the best of terms with his son the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett), and his subjects don't like him much either. He is beginning to engage in odd un-kingly behaviour, which suggests to those that surround him that he is unfit to rule. This spells disaster for Prime Minister Pitt (Julian Wadham) who stands to be replaced by his rival Fox (Jim Carter) if the Prince of Wales becomes Regent. Surrounded by incompetent doctors and his puzzled but caring wife (Helen Mirren), the king must prove to his doubters that he hasn't gone mad.

The film, based on an award-winning play by the ever excellent Alan Bennett, presents a confused kind old man rather than a tyrannical, obsessed monarch, and this along with Hawthorne's excellent performance helps to enlist the audience's sympathies; here is a man who addresses his wife as Mrs. King and tries vainly to keep his dysfunctional family together. There are some not-very-subtle references to the current Royal Family's predicaments, such as the Prince Regent's remark that to be the Prince of Wales is "not a position it is a predicament"

But the political sharpness of the play and its exploration of the compatibility between madness and power has been jettisoned in favour of loving camera shots of stately homes and lots of Georgian pageantry; for a real insight into the distribution of power within the English establishment, watch Yes, Prime Minister.

Review by Stephen Cox
Taken from EUFS Programme 1995-96