Mad is the head wearing the crown

Special to The Journal

"I'M here but I'm not all there," King George III laments to a confidant in "The Madness of King George." Such a revelation is hardly newsworthy to the loyal subjects who have been observing the king's rather odd behavior in 1788, the 28th year of his 60-year reign.

Having suffered the humiliation of losing the American colonies, King George is now prone to serious lapses in social etiquette. He shouts sexual obscenities in public, disrupts chamber concerts, and makes passes at a member of the Queen's court. The Royal Family is becoming concerned.

This scandalous episode in the king's life has been re-created with devastating wit in the new British film based on the Alan Bennett play. Powdered wigs, tricorn hats and buckle shoes aside, the thoroughly entertaining (and equally poignant) cinematic debut by theatrical director Nicholas Hytner is far from being a stilted and stuffy historical drama.

As a matter of fact, purists might disapprove of the colloquial repartee of writer Bennett's characters whose manners of speech would have have gotten them expelled from Windsor Castle in the 18th century. But such an approach is in keeping with the dramatic farce that this movie is.

In an exceptional performance as King George, Nigel Hawthorne is infantile and obtuse one moment, regal and authoritative the next, brilliantly guiding his erratic monarch through the stages of deterioration and recovery. As the nonconformist doctor brought in to cure the king of his madness, Ian Holm is a quiet, fascinating foil, and his scenes with Hawthorne have a painful power that reveal the monarch at his most vulnerable.

Said to be one of the earliest psychotherapists on record, Holm's Dr. Willis thinks nothing of tying up King George to a chair and gagging him during moments where His Royal Majesty is at his rudest and most obscene. While the doctor conducts these uncompromising therapeutic sessions, the movie delightedly takes pleasure in the behind-the-scenes effort to unseat the king as George's ingrate son, the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett), tries to pressure Parliament into proclaiming him regent.

The always watchable Helen Mirren is a commanding Queen Charlotte, and Amanda Donohoe provides her customary sensual sparkle as the queen's mistress of the robes. Anglophiles will be further seduced by the film's splendid use of centuries- old English royal architecture to bring added realism to the misfortunes of the "mad monarch."

Cast and Credits

The Madness of King George *** 1/2 Cast: Nigel Hawthorne as King George III, Helen Mirren as Queen Charlotte, Ian Holm as Willis, Rupert Everett as the Prince of Wales, Rupert Graves as Greville.

Behind the Scenes: Nicholas Hytner, director; Alan Bennett, writer (based on his play, "The Madness of George III"); Andrew Dunn, cinematographer; George Fenton, music.

Rating: Unrated (Language, mature themes)

Copyright 1995
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