“We’ve all had those dreams where we try to cry out and our voice won’t come” - Tom Hooper, director of The King’s Speech. The King’s Speech tells the story of Albert, the Duke of York, and Lionel Logue, his speech therapist. Albert, otherwise known as Bertie is aided by Logue in his quest to overcome his persistent stuttering that he has had since childhood. Using the interactions between Bertie and Lionel, Hooper develops a sense of hope in the film in order for us, that is, Bertie and the audience, to gain hope that he will eventually overcome his stammer. Hooper presents a sense of hope when Bertie and Lionel first meet. He wastes no time at introducing the main conflict which can be summarised: Bertie stammers. Their first interaction …show more content…
They begin to bond and Bertie opens up about his childhood, about how his former nanny used to let him starve and David used to tease him for his stuttering. It is an important scene that reveals much about Bertie’s backstory and emphasises their growing friendship. Only through Logue’s extension of friendship does Bertie recover and triumph over the psychological trauma of his past and this creates an immense sense of hope moving forward. Hooper uses framing and close-ups to emphasise this bonding and the interaction between the two men. The framing in this scene is different to earlier in the film because Bertie is framed against a warmer background with wood and his face isn’t as pushed into the corner of the frame. The close-ups create an intimacy between the two men. Hooper does this to show the growing trust in their relationship and to show that Bertie is making progress. This shows that Bertie is developing a sense of hope through his interaction with Logue because he is the only one who can help Bertie. Bertie knows that he is disallowed from having his stutter due to the nature of his title. While commoners can live their lives with this condition, as future King of England Bertie is expected to be the figurehead of England and is literally the voice of