"I'm not sure I could trust a Modernist with an English name..."
There's a lot bubbling away in that troublesome marriage between Elizabeth and Phil- not least that, as he gets sloshed with his ra-ra mates, she's hanging around with her friend (and old flame), Porchy, who shares her interest in horses, an interest which Phil does not share. Things are clearly building towards a head next episode, But this episode is all about Winston.
It's November 1954, and Winston's 80th birthday is coming up, an age that suggests retirement may not be far off; Gladstone may have become Prime Minister for the fourth and final time at 83, but that's not how things are done in the twentieth century. No; we get modernist artists to do a portrait, and so the episode hangs mainly around Churchill and Graham Sutherland's conversations as Winston sits for his portrait.It's a very character-based episode, filmed largely on location at Chartwell, which gets inside the head of this gruff, eloquent, stubborn and deeply emotional man, suffused with greatness, grief and the black dog.
Churchill's pride is greatly wounded by what must feel like a personal betrayal from his protege, the ambitious and frustrated Sir Anthony Eden, as he delivers an obviously pre-prepared and deeply tactless speech urging Churchill to step down, almost openly accusing him of staying on through nothing but personal pride. The effect is precisely as you would expect.
The unveiling of the painting is the disaster we all know, but the painting has "truth" and is the ultimate catalyst of the wounded Winston at last deciding to step down. We end with scenes of the Queen speaking at a dinner for him juxtaposed with scenes of the painting being burned. The episode is a fine farewell to Churchill whom, I suspect, we shall not see again. But these scenes are also juxtaposed with scenes of Elizabeth and Phil rowing, and I suspect the finale will show a lot more of this...
I love this episode. Maybe the talk between Churchill and Sutherland is fictitious but when Sutherland hits him with the truth that “age is cruel”, Churchill shuts up. Why? Because Churchill was from the generation that lived it, that fought it. The emotion is totally real because he had lived it. But it finally hits him that those glory days are long over.
ReplyDeleteThis episode now makes me think of America, and the gerontocracy it has become...
ReplyDeleteI have recently found out I can click on the gray triangle after "Comment as" and add my name, so I am the annoymous guest all this past weeks.
ReplyDeleteI watched The Crown for the first time following the death of Prince Phillip in 2021 and all the way to 2023 after the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022.
So many things I learned, but learning about Churchill's leadership in 51 to 55 is interesting since we usually always focus on his WW2 leadership. It is a fascinating little bit of history that this episode covers.
As he and Sutherland are going through the sittings, Churchill keeps trying to one-up Sutherland; Churchill is a great painter himself, doesn't Sutherland want some tips from Churchill on how to paint him, Churchill is after all the leader of the free world, and so on. All the while, Sutherland is seeing Churchill as old and frail and *done*, and it's Sutherland who guesses why Churchill keeps painting the pond without being able to capture it. The highlight for me was the scene about Marigold; John Lithgow shines during the conversation between Churchill and Sutherland and Churchill’s painting and repainting of the pond on his grounds. Churchill said he kept painting it because it was a challenge, while Sutherland related it to the grief that Churchill experienced at the death of one of his children. It is a moment of humanity and vulnerabletily we see from the old leader, beset from the approach of old age. Incredibly moving, especially as Churchill realizes what the pond has come to symbolize for him. Lovely moment.
Pleased to meet you, Sam!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I found the early seasons more interesting for the same reasons as yourself, especially Churchill's second ministry in the early '50s, which is not well remembered. This fictionalised version of Churchill, older and frailer, is if anything more interesting that the same person a decade before.