Le Discours d’un Roi

I went to see the film Le Discours d’un Roi (The King’s Speech) in Vannes at the weekend. The cinema in Vannes is opposite the old walls which are floodlit beautifully at night and the town looked wonderful. Also the Saturday evening showing I went to was completely full and the ticket desk was saying only ten places left when I got in. Colin Firth’s performance is remarkable, he won best actor at the British Academy awards on Sunday and the film picked up another six awards including best film, best supporting actor (Geoffrey Rush) and best supporting actress (Helena Bonham-Carter). It was a great film for spotting the supporting actors including Derek Jacobi as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Gambon as King George V, Claire Bloom as Queen Alexandra, Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill (much better than it sounds) and Roxana Marquez (the girl from Outnumbered) as a young Princess Margaret. Mark Kermode has just been on the radio to say that Colin Firth is a near certainty for an Oscar – hope that’s not a bad luck omen.