While watching Hyde Park on Hudson, I couldn't help but think the title should really have been The King's Speech 2: Meet the Roosevelts, with FDR's mother (Elizabeth Wilson) playing the Robert De Niro role. The film centres around a weekend in 1939 when King George VI (Samuel West), better known as
We see the run-up to the weekend in the country and the weekend itself through the eyes of Daisy (Laura Linney), a distant cousin of FDR, who is also his mistress. Actually, one of his mistresses; another alternative title for the film could have been All the President's Women. On the death of the real-life Daisy in 1991, a trove of letters and diaries revealing the affair were discovered. "I helped him forget the weight of the world," Daisy tells us, but we don't get to see much in the way of raw passion, though, apart from a cheeky fumble in the car. FDR just says things that wouldn't be out of place in Jezebel's crap email from a dude column, such as: "I've built you a place where you can be alone and miss me." How enticing... The gesture seems even less special when she finds his private secretary Missy (Elizabeth Marvel) occupying the love nest she thought was her own.
As the film progresses, however, it becomes less about FDR's personal relations and more about international relations. The president and the king swap tips and insecurities. "Sometimes I think [my people] deserve better than me," Bertie confides. FDR, meanwhile, explains that the press are too scared to write about his polio. Banter is exchanged. Some hilarity ensues. Hot dogs are consumed. The birth of a special relationship, between the US and Great Britain, is observed, as another special relationship, between FDR and Daisy, seems to falter.
I enjoyed Hyde Park on Hudson well enough while I was watching it, and that was mainly thanks to the performances. Bill Murray is really good, playing FDR as a charming rogue. Olivia Colman was hilarious, and although Laura Linney won't win awards for her subtle portrayal of the all-seeing mistress, her performance was perfectly restrained and of its time. Samuel West wasn't a bad Bertie, but two years after The King's Speech is probably too soon for anyone to have forgotten how remarkable Colin Firth was. Hyde Park on Hudson is entertaining enough, but there are so many great films out at the moment that unless you are a hardcore movie-goer, you will have a number of other films to work through before you think about seeing this one.