The Madness of King George – 1994 | 107 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Alan Bennett’s accomplished reworking of his stage play is both handsome historical drama about skulduggery at court – epitomised by Rupert Everett’s foppish, scheming Prince of Wales impatiently waiting in the wings – and a moving study of the man inside the ermine. Nigel Hawthorne‘s George, haunted by the pain of mental illness porphyria, lurching from nobility to wild-eyed tantrums, under the regime of progressive doctor Ian Holm, to utter wretchedness in a soiled nappy. And counter-pointing the affectations of courtly manners is his moving relationship with Queen Charlotte, Helen Mirren.