Netflix success Crown it entered its fifth and penultimate season with a complete cast change. A vision that shows not only the evolution of the characters, but also how the show understands its internal dynamics. A story that reaches a breaking point with the peaceful old age of many of its main characters, he achieves a rare beauty to speak of his physical decline. A respectful and sensitive perspective on how the script analyzes the British monarchy and its historical significance.
This becomes more apparent in the way Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce interpret Elizabeth II and Philip of Edinburgh. Both actors give the royal couple a fragile sensuality that surprises and touches with a variety of nuances. Also because of the way they show interest Crown for preserving the historical figures they explore in human terms.
So far, the visible heads of the British monarchy have been performed by three different groups of actors. This allows us to analyze how Crown It includes the volume of historical reality, which tells the story, and its features. A broader view of the oldest English institution retaining a curious sensibility.
Elizabeth II of England Crown
Claire Foy
The English actress played the queen for the first two seasons of the series. Crown. A critical time, because it showed not only the youth of the queen, but also the challenge of power in the face of all kinds of pressure. And as if that wasn’t enough, she personified a great British lady at a crucial moment. painful confrontation with sister Margarita.
As we remember, the younger sister of Elizabeth II led a mild scandal when she fell in love with a man who was thought to stem from her aristocratic rank. An event that occurred just after the Crown was still grappling with the effects of Edward VIII’s abdication. So, the very young queen had to face a difficult scenario in which she had to forbid her sister’s possible marriage.
The Queen also went through all sorts of transformations and political changes in the British Empire that existed until that time. Something that Crown shown in great detail. The storyline implemented by Foy led her to play Elizabeth II in several different decades, namely from 1950 to 1960. For her performance, the actress received a Golden Globe.
Olivia Colman
In the third season, actress Olivia Colman replaced Foy to play Queen Elizabeth II in her most difficult political moments. In the third and fourth seasons, the translator played a monarch who had to face tough political changes in England. Also the progressive loss of the power of the Crown and, finally, its transformation into a mere constitutional symbol.
Colman played the queen, who has reached magnificent physical and mental maturity. One that was to take on the face of the crown as part of an increasingly criticized historical heritage. And at the same time deal with scandals around children and a difficult social life. Colman succeeded in endowing the queen with a stoic beauty and a brilliant construction of the concept of her weight in the English identity.
The interpretation brought the actress a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe. What made the role of Queen Elizabeth II in Crown in a small theatrical challenge in the world of acting.
Imelda Staunton
Staunton bears the difficult responsibility of playing queen in his physical decline and the hardest moments of old age. The face of Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth and sixth season of the series Crown it would also be a country in conflict. England will not only face a severe economic downturn.
And also to the enormous pressure and disputes that will turn the monarch into a powerless witness to the decline of royal power. Simultaneously with the break in the vision of the Crown as a symbol of indestructible strength.
Staunton will also certainly show the last years of the life of Elizabeth II and the significance of her legacy in the future. A difficult task that the actress will have to accept due to the increasingly rigid vision of the British Royal Institute.
Philip of Edinburgh Crown
Matt Smith
During the first two seasons Crown, actor Matt Smith was responsible for the role of the Prince Consort of England. His performance was acclaimed for portraying Felipe who still didn’t have a very clear idea of the responsibilities he was to take on.
Also about the stress he had to deal with while being husband of a young queen and with full power about a difficult country. Smith managed to give his character a curious duality between a husband indebted to the crown and a man slightly disillusioned by his historical ineptitude.
Known for his adventurous nature and his own desire for power, Felipe was forced to abandon any ambition in favor of Elizabeth II. Something that Smith managed with intelligence, sensitivity and deep intuition to portray the dissatisfaction of the prince consort.
Tobias Menzies
The man who played Philip of Edinburgh, aged 43 to 69, appeared in Crown the maturity of a prince consort in a new way. He not only built the role based on the internal pressure that his character and family had to endure in the midst of increasingly complex transformations.
Also by how the character reacted to violent social and cultural changes that shook England during the sixties and seventies. A time in which the British crown has gone through perhaps some of the most difficult and difficult times to respect its constitutional role. As Prince Consort, Philip had little influence in state affairs. Thus, his work in providing emotional and moral support to Queen Elizabeth II made him a shadowy figure with a huge influence on the monarch.
Menzies was sensitive enough to turn Smith’s Felipe into a man trapped in his own contradictions. Also at the head of the family, the public life of his children, and later his grandchildren, was embarrassing. A formal and accurate portrait of a mysterious man.
Jonathan Pryce
Finally, the late Philip of Edinburgh will reprise his role in the series’ fifth and sixth seasons. Crown brilliant actor Jonathan Pryce. The translator has a big responsibility. show the physical decline of the prince consort and, at the same time, some aspects of his special emotional life.
It’s an acting challenge that, in season five, prompted Price to present Felipe as an unclassifiable historical figure. Especially under the pressure of various cultural and social movements around him.
Also because of the fear of old age and the perception of the progressive loss of power by Elizabeth II as a symbol of the British institution. A whole harrowing journey that the actor interprets with elegant sobriety and discreet awareness of his character’s predominant place in the story.
