101. The Duke; movie review

 

THE DUKE

Cert 12A

95 mins

BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language, moderate sex, discrimination

Charming. The Duke is exactly what it says on the tin - or, in its case, the poster.

And I am sure the auditorium of old folk who watched it at Derby Odeon on Thursday afternoon loved it. 

My enjoyment was tempered because its trailer has been showing for months and, consequently, I had already witnessed many of its key scenes.

Nevertheless, there are a few unexpected twists and Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren make a rather lovely couple.

Broadbent plays Kempton Bunton, a campaigner for pensioners' rights who became famous for the theft of Goya's painting of The Duke Of Wellington from the National Gallery in 1961.

Bunton had already spent time in jail for refusing to pay his TV licence fee after dismantling the receiver for BBC programmes.

Broadbent plays Bunton with a rare twinkle as he goes from job to job, being regularly sacked for standing up to "the man".

Meanwhile, he ducks and dives away from his mock-outraged wife (Helen Mirren) as she tries, without success, to keep him on the straight and narrow.

Roger Michell's movie does a grand job of re-creating early 1960s Britain, with a soundtrack of classic songs of the time and transposing Bunton on to some archive footage.

The Buntons' terraced house also brought back memories (my grandma and grandad had the same fire place).

Many scenes raised a smile but the belly-laughs were concentrated on the Old Bailey court episode during which Broadbent's timing is perfection.

It's a lovely warm conclusion to a film which lifts its audience up but doesn't manage to have the emotional pull of Belfast, another recent 60s movie.

Nevertheless, if you are of a certain age and need a feelgood movie, The Duke could well tick the box.

Reasons to watch: Jim Broadbent gives us a smile

Reasons to avoid: A bit too twee

Laughs: Three

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? The first recorded art heist was in 1473, when Polish pirates boarded a ship that was en route to Florence. They walked away with Hans Memling’s The Last Judgement, an intricately rendered triptych envisioning the second coming of Christ, and hauled it back to their homeland. The painting today resides at the National Museum in Gdańsk, Poland, and Italians have been seeking its recovery ever since.

The final word. Jim Broadbent: "If Kempton was around now, he’d have been fighting to save the BBC; he’d be on the side of the BBC against the Government." Radio Times

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