BY LEAH ROZEN
CRITIC'S CHOICE
DRAMA
Even staunch anti-monarchists should bow before Helen Mirren, who gives what just may be the performance of the year as Britain's current Queen in this spellbinding drama. Astutely directed by Stephen Frears, The Queen takes us behind palace doors as it tracks the evolving relationship between Elizabeth II and newly elected British Prime Minister Tony Blair (Sheen) in the week following the death of Princess Diana in 1997. After the reserved Queen and other royals fail to respond publicly to the national outpouring of grief—Prince Philip (Cromwell) goes hunting—Blair is convinced that the future of the monarchy itself is at stake and sets out to persuade Her Majesty to loosen her stiff upper lip. When Mirren finally does, it's like watching granite melt. (PG-13)
