In the British TV series “The Crown” appeared Russian trace
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The premiere of the fifth season of “The Crown” was expectedly accompanied by considerable excitement. Since its launch in 2016, the project has been regarded by many as the main series about Queen Elizabeth, and after the death of the royal person, interest in The Crown has grown by leaps and bounds. Fans of the royal family again have something to discuss, and those who were somehow involved in the events, there were reasons for indignation.
Each season of The Crown focuses on a specific period in the life of Britain and its Queen. The first begins in the late forties – with the engagement of Elizabeth and Prince Philip – and ends in the mid-fifties. The second season is devoted to the events that unfolded from 1955 to 1964: from the Suez crisis to the resignation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. In the third season (1964-1977), the premieres Harold Wilson and Edward Heath enter the arena. The fourth season (1977–1990) covers the reign of Margaret Thatcher as well as the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
The events of the fifth season (1991–1997) have gone down in history as a time of great testing for the royal family. Marriages of titled offspring are rapidly going downhill, an intimate conversation between the still married Charles and the person of his secret passion Camilla Parker Bowles gets into the tabloids, Diana answers very frank, by the standards of aristocrats, interviews, and Windsor Castle is still on fire and it is necessary to return Hong Kong to China.
As you can understand, we are talking about events that do not yet seem like things of bygone days. That is why even before the premiere of the fifth season, pressure began on the producers of the show. British film legend Judi Dench and former Prime Minister John Major (his reign was included in the script for the fifth season) almost unanimously began to call on the producers to accompany each episode with a reminder that the events of the show are fictitious.
The former prime minister was especially outraged by the line in which Charles persuaded him to assist in the early resignation of the queen so that a younger and more progressive monarch could ascend the throne, which the prince obviously considered himself to be. Major called this interpretation of events complete nonsense and recommended not to believe these and other speculations of the writers.
Perhaps the ex-politician’s nervous remark, as well as the royal family’s dissatisfaction with the on-screen interpretation of their relationship, which was reported ahead of the premiere, can best be seen as concerns about reputation and privacy. That being said, it’s hard not to admit that the style of storytelling in Season 5 isn’t very similar to how the royal family has been portrayed on the show before. A diligent immersion in history under the sauce of thoroughbred melodrama suddenly turned into a passionate study of the personal lives of the main characters.
Charles looks like a ladies’ man, Diana suffers and gives the royal backstage to the press, and even Her Majesty is very worried about the cool relationship with her husband. There is in all this something from Turkish melodramas, although such tabloid passions, most likely, do not frighten the viewer. In the end, the characters of the series are like living people who can even sympathize.
By the way, the casting for the main roles, judging by the reviews, made a vivid impression on the fans of the series. As the key characters get older, so do the actors who play them. The line-up changes every two seasons, and in the fifth, new stars are presented to the attention of the public.
The queen is played by Imelda Staunton, the same one who reincarnated as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter. The role of Prince Philip went to the famous Jonathan Price, known for Brazil, Evita, Pirates of the Caribbean and other films. Prince Charles on the screen was Dominic West, whom many remember from the film “Hannibal: The Return”. Lady Diana was played by Elizabeth Debicki, in Russia she is known for the TV series The Night Manager.
The audience accepted the new stars of the series very complacently, although the actress for the role of Diana was traditionally treated more than biased. There is an opinion that the ideal performer of the role of the people’s princess has not yet been found, and Elizabeth Debicki, most likely, also does not claim this title. The scene in which her character gives the famous interview to the BBC, noticing that there were three of them in a marriage with Charles, and this is a bit crowded, was called downright a failure. The actress plays too hard trying to impress, while in the original video, Diana’s behavior is nothing like that. However, why be surprised: in principle, aristocrats are not very worried about what anyone else thinks of them, and, apparently, it is quite difficult for people of a more modest origin to play such a carefree and open expression on their faces.
One of the key episodes of the season is dedicated to the visit of the royal couple to Russia. This episode recreates the execution of the Russian royal family, which, according to the scriptwriters and some historians, could have been avoided if the British king George V had made some efforts to take out his cousin Nicholas II (played by Alexei Dyakin in the series) and his family from Russia, embraced by the revolution.
In Russia in the mid-nineties, Elizabeth and Philip meet with Boris Yeltsin and his wife Naina (the president and first lady were played by Anatoly Kotenev and Marina Shimanskaya) and perceive this visit as an opportunity to visit the homeland of their ancestors. True, the first Russian president is depicted in full accordance with the idea of him in many countries. That is, drunk, dancing on the table under “Kalinka-Malinka”.
The first critical response to the new season of The Crown was not at all as flattering as in previous years. But all the talk about the series, decrepit, like the monarchy, is unlikely to dissuade the audience that the new season has a lot of great acting, that the characters are still very interesting to watch, and the gloss characteristic of the best British TV shows is invariably impressive. There is a style here, paradoxical humor, and finally, an impartial and somewhat ironic attitude to their own bright and dark times. That is, everything that we do not have at all. And this is the first season of The Crown, released at a time when Elizabeth and Philip have already become history. Such sentimentality obviously does not harm the ratings.
Newspaper headline:
In Her Majesty’s Service
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