Queen dead, king seated. The coincidence was obviously unplanned, but it lends an unexpected relevance to season five of The Crown, which premieres on Netflix this Wednesday (9). Although it supports some of its script in Charles and Diana’s troubled marriage, its central theme is the succession to Elizabeth II, who died in September at the age of 96.
The queen of screens, now in the shoes of the amazing Imelda Staunton (from ‘Vera Drake’ and ‘Harry Potter’) is still very much alive, as is the world around her from castles, ships and royal weddings all the way to European geopolitics collapses on your very head.
Covering most of the 1990s, the ten episodes, each based on a character, are a series of disasters. The greatest for those who sit on the throne is the questioning of the monarchy, a thousandyearold institution and therefore unprepared for the supersonic changes ahead.
If we saw a reluctant queen in Claire Foy, the monarch in the first two seasons, and a resolute head of state in Olivia Colman, who played the role in the following two, Elizabeth is lonely and in crisis.
This powerlessness in the face of an existential threat is ingrained in the scenarios and in the script (in one of the most impressive sequences, we see a flashback as the Romanov family is murdered, member by member, to end tsarism in Russia).
She is an Elizabeth whose role and the way she performs it are questioned not only by her subjects but also by members of her own family. As if that weren’t enough, the focus is on the role of the mother, who can give her children everything, depriving them of shared experiences as necessary: dating, working, making decisions.
Thus The Crown takes a decisive step towards fiction (the Windsors never endorsed Peter Morgan’s series, but his diligence in recreating historical episodes is undeniable) and presents a questioning and virile Charles, almost devoid of the public figure of the modernday king is separated. .
Part of this comes from a casting lapse that is unusual for the series. Dominic West is a competent actor for a certain type of role — and anyone who’s seen him on The Wire and The Affair knows that. It’s the confident guy everyone wants to hear.
This isn’t the Charles that audiences are used to, much less the one that did justice to the previous season’s Josh O’Connor, whose physical resemblance to the Prince of Wales is a huge help.
Also interesting is the parallel the season draws between him and Dodi alFayed (Khalid Abdala), who would become Diana’s boyfriend, who died at his side in the accident. While the Queen is reluctant to entrust her son to the throne and Prince Philip (the great Jonathan Pryce) doesn’t hesitate to humiliate him, Dodi is stoned by his father, the selfmade millionaire Mohamed alFayed (Salim Daw, priceless). , so conquer the world.
By taking a broader and more generous look at Elizabeth’s firstborn, The Crown breaks the inevitable predictability of a historical series, especially in a season where the following facts have been questioned time and time again in the recent past.
marathon
The Charles on screen is a character who wants to reinvigorate the monarchy; who complains about being a supposedly underused power and who, reprimanded by his parents, reacts.
In real life, the new king ascended the throne two months ago, and at the age of 73 his reign is seen by analysts as temporary, a throne warmer for his son William, 40.
In the series, it’s hard to cheer for the future king. Staunton and especially Elizabeth Debicki (from The Night Manager) who plays Diana are stunning on stage.
Debicki is a marvel, by the way, as he embodies every sigh and look of William and Harry’s mother, who died in a car accident at the age of 36. Emma Corrin, who won the role the previous season, was nominated for an Emmy and didn’t win; in Debicki’s case, her name may already be inscribed on the statuette.