"The Queen" **** (out of four): Helen Mirren's flawless performance in the title role is the crowning glory of director Stephen Frears' piercing portrayal of the British monarchy in the wake of Princess Diana's death.

I never thought I’d get choked up over a movie about the stuffy upper-crust of the British monarchy, but then along came “The Queen”, director Stephen Frears’ piercing, unbiased and ultimately moving portrayal of the affect of Princess Diana’s death on the Royal Family. Mr. Frears, working from a script by Peter Morgan (“The Last King of Scotland”), goes where few films have gone before: inside Buckingham Palace (though most of the film is spent at a summer retreat). “The Queen” offers a glimpse of what it must be like to be part of an establishment that many find archaic or powerless, and it does so with elegance, even-handedness and a pitch-perfect performance by Helen Mirren as the title

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