The 5 of the best films and TV series on Queen Elizabeth II

With the death, on September 8, 2022, of Queen Elizabeth II, a chasm opened in the conscience and memory of everyone, even those who have never experienced firsthand the national context in which reigned. The personal attachment to such a character derives both from her fame as a ruler and from all those works made within pop culture, in which she appears or in which she was the protagonist. Many have tried to understand what was hidden behind the cold reserve and detachment that the queen herself has maintained over the course of about 70 years of reign, and some have gone even further, building real stories and studies around the character. , outside of his own role. In relation to all this, feature films, television series and documentaries have been constructed, all engaged in trying not only to read this woman in the light of her role, but trying to go further, thus staging even the most intimate dynamics of the existence of she. In function of this we have decided to draw up a list of 5 of the best films and TV series on Queen Elizabeth II, in order to help you in trying to have greater clarity both towards her own story, and towards the way in which people they saw.

There have been many works dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, many attempts to go beyond her image and as many to portray her in a dimension far from any construction of the crown itself.

5 of the best films and TV series about Queen Elizabeth II

The Crown The Queen Elizabeth - A Portrait In Parts Spencer A night with the queen

The Crown

You can't make such a list without talking about The Crown, a 2016 TV series written by Peter Morgan. At the center of its plot we find the British royal family itself and all the vicissitudes, personal and otherwise, to which it has been involved over time. Starting in 1947, Morgan deals with the disappearance of King George VI, formerly the Duke of York, the ascent to the throne of Elizabeth II and the various private vicissitudes related to all this.


In the following seasons The Crown gradually shifts its attention to subsequent generations, reflecting both on the growth of the future king and on what was the relationship between Charles and Diana, also deepening the other members of the family. The broad historical spectrum dealt with is studied in detail, offering a narrative cross-section that envelops for its prolixity and delicacy, also launching into historical-cultural reflections.


5 of the best films and TV series on Queen Elizabeth II

The role of Elizabeth, here, is entrusted from time to time to a different actress due to the time jumps she is subject the plot. For the youngest and newly enthroned queen we have Clare Foy, for example, replaced in the following developments by Olivia Colman. The exact same thing happens, of course, also with the rest of the cast, with a continuous "transformation" in function of a plot that embraces a wider space of story. Composed, for now, of four seasons, The Crown has managed to gain the favor of the public (also winning prestigious sector awards) and reconfirm its value from time to time.

The Crown is available on Netflix: buy the Fire TV Stick 4K Ultra HD with the latest generation Alexa voice remote control to enjoy Netflix quietly on your TV

The Queen

Our list could not miss The Queen, a 2006 film directed by Stephen Frears (feature film that is also studied in universities specializing in cinema), at the center of which we find the figure of Queen Elizabeth II at a very particular moment in her life.


The state and the crown must find the right way to face such a great and imposing mourning, a sincere response to the family dimension and that of a people that is beginning to raise too many questions. Within an atmosphere of dispassionate popular love (represented by the crowds and the flood of flowers outside Buckingham Palace), we find a woman who has always taught the canons of coldness, cementing them to the intent of her being, in a clash intimate between the queen, the grandmother, the mother and the woman everyone asks for something in a moment of extreme delicacy.



5 of the best films and TV series on Queen Elizabeth II

The divisive gap between duty and the human being has always been a large area of ​​discussion when it comes to the queen. This film finds fertile ground starting right here, and then moving its gaze to both the royal family itself and the reactions of the people.

The Queen is available on Prime Video: to subscribe to the Prime Video streaming service , also taking advantage of the 30-day trial, you can use this link

Elizabeth - A Portrait In Parts

With Elizabeth - A Portrait In Parts we move into the docu-film dimension, with the added value of not reconstructing , but simply to illustrate the secret reality of a fundamental character.

Directed by Oscar-winning director Roger Michell, it is a work of “intimate and figurative assemblage”. Using some archive images, the director analyzes and stages the life of the queen and her family, starting from the 1930s up to 2020. From this emerges a precise portrait of her business meetings (with presidents and prime ministers for example), alternating the most serious moments with those of her quiet and carefree private life. A fine work that takes into account both the cultural value of the character and the human one, faceting a narrative enriched by the source material and the eye of its own director.



5 among the best films and tv series on Queen Elizabeth II

The possibility of observing the private reality of the queen represents the greatest fascination behind this film which is linked to the mass of documentaries that over the years have tried to outline her figure. The encounter between the visual medium and the royal context of the crown has always generated interest both in the people and in the scholars of the case, trying to preserve and tear away, at the same time, a strange veil that no longer seems to belong to our time.

Elizabeth - A Portrait In Parts is available on NOW

Spencer

Spencer is a 2021 film directed by Pablo Larrain and could turn out to be a risky choice in relation to the list itself. Yet in this film, entirely focused on the character of Lady Diana, we find a Queen Elizabeth II with an extremely important stage weight, in relation to the common perception of her figure. Set in December 1991 in Sandringham, at the center of the narrative we have all the suffering of a young woman projected in a dilapidated and anachronistic context. It is precisely this context that interests us and speaks continuously without speaking directly. The queen and her court become, in the film, a cumbersome and suffocating lexical and cultural unicum, thanks to the maniacal staging of a director attentive to every single detail, both evident and hidden in the dusty silences of a firm hold over time. br>


5 of the best films and TV series on Queen Elizabeth II

In Spencer the real protagonist of the narration is precisely the context in which everything moves, made up of personal service, super organized cooks, denied smiles, fleeting glances and thoughts leaked from the old decaying walls all around. Everyone continually follows the queen and her norms following her by wearing a mask for the entire course of their life. In contrast we have a Diana who would like to run away in vain.

Spencer is available on Prime Video: to subscribe to the Prime Video streaming service, also taking advantage of the 30-day trial, you can use this link

One night with the queen

Expanding the human spectrum of a historical figure is possible through cinema and television products, and interest in this aspect and possibility is also central in a dedicated list like ours, precisely because of the halo of mystery that has hovered for years around the emotionality of this woman. A night with the queen goes to fit right into all of this, offering a personal insight that should not be underestimated at all. Julian Jarrold's 2016 film (currently featured on Prime Video), inspired by a true story, it deals with a personal parenthesis of Elisabetta, of a specific event. On May 8, 1945, a very important date for history since it was the day when Germany declared its surrender with the consequent end of the Second World War, the future queen and her little sister, both princesses at the time, left Buckingham Palace kidnapped by the celebrations. A story, therefore, that portrays Elisabetta light-heartedly, reconnecting with a childhood that is not too much treated or in-depth in documentaries and films, thus resulting original both in the execution and in the basic idea.

A night with the queen is available on Prime Video: to subscribe to the Prime Video streaming service, also taking advantage of the 30-day trial, you can use this link