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Lanita Stokes
Mr. Bhattacharya
Interpersonal Communication 125
October 20, 2011
Movie Critique for The King's Speech
I watched The King's Speech for my movie critique at home. This film tells the story of Prince Albert, the Duke of York, and how he overcame a life-long speech impediment with the help of Lionel Logue, a speech therapist from Australia.
The movie begins with Prince Albert (Colin Firth) attempting to deliver a speech written by his father at the closing ceremony of the Empire Exhibition. We find out that the king has already spoken, as well as Prince Albert's older brother, the Prince of Wales, and now the Duke of York must speak. As he begins the speech, it becomes clear that he has a debilitating stutter.
The scene following shows what I assume is one of many failed treatments by a specialist to cure him of his speech problem.
English: Photograph of Australian speech therapist...
English: Photograph of Australian speech therapist...
Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter filming The K...The Duke becomes frustrated during the treatment and asks his wife, Elizabeth, the Duchess of York (Helena Bonham Carter), to promise that he won't have to see any more doctors. This leads the Duchess of York to secretly visit an unorthodox speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Mr. Logue explains to the Duchess that although he is willing to help the Duke, he will only assist on his terms and they must come to him and follow his rules. The Duchess agrees, and sets an appointment.
Prince Albert meets with Mr. Logue, but has little hope that the therapist can help, and after becoming upset at Logue's overfamiliarity and unconventional methods, he storms out. The movie then takes us to a scene involving Prince Albert and his father and we're told why it is so important for Prince Albert to be able to speak properly.