The Queen

The Queen is presented in an excellent 1.85:1 anamorphically enhanced widescreen transfer. A minimal Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix is servicable, aside from moments of well-recorded music filling the room. An audio descriptive track is provided in stereo.

The menus are reasonably stylised, mixing footage from the media furore surrounding Princess Diana's death, with the still menu selections having choice cuts of Alexandre Desplat's outstanding score.

The main extra is an entertaining yak-track with Stephen Frears and Peter Morgan. They bicker, discuss their approaches and have a bit of fun - their differences on the storytelling is fruitful and cheery. They comment on the difference between the 35mm and 16mm mixing of scenes shot with the Queen and Tony Blair. And of course, "There's not a single location that's accurate" - referring to the various invisible digital effects and substituting locations for Balmoral and Buckingham Palace. They also refer to deleted scenes that are not on the disc. They are informal, informative and easygoing. Morgan leads the track, with Frears offering his dry sense of humour and flair with dramatic juice.

A short making-of featurette is next; the best contributions are by Helen Mirren offering her perceptions on her means of getting into character and her respect for the Queen. Most of the remaining contributions are rather uninteresting - the usual electronic press kit fluff.

The theatrical trailer - which happens to look better than the feature film itself - and for other Pathe! releases complete the video-based supplements.

A brief production photo gallery, and cast and crew biographies round out the disc.