Hyde Park on Hudson [Blu-ray]

What a pleasant surprise this little film was. It tells the story of FDR's relationship with Daisy, concentrating on the time around King George's awkward first visit in America, shortly before the outbreak of WW2. FDR (Bill Murray) escapes the pressures of office and the two powerful women in his life, his mother and his wife Eleanor, by spending time with Daisy (Laura Linney), a distant cousin. The visit of the insecure, stuttering young British King and his wife is seen as an unavoidable nuissance by the Americans, and the presence of the stiff and formal British royals in the rather informal country house in upstate New York (Hyde Park on Hudson) causes tension. However, the two men soon manage to forge a strong bond.The story is based on the diaries of the real Daisy, discovered after her death many years after the events shown in the film. For those viewers who, like me, know nothing about FDR's affair with Daisy and little about his meeting with the King, the director's feature length commentary included in the extra features is very helpful in understanding how much of the story is fact, and how much is fictional embellishment.The acting is very good all round, Samuel West is wonderful as the awkward young King, and Olivia Colman works unexpectedly well as the queen. I also loved Olivia Williams as Eleanor Roosevelt and the 90 year old Elizabeth Wilson is simply outstanding as FDR's forceful mother. The real surprise for me was Bill Murray. I am not usually a great fan of him and found it hard to imagine him as FDR. Boy, was I wrong! He is quite wonderful in this film and his performance here changed my opinion of him as an actor completely. The one person I could not get excited about is Laura Linney, but perhaps that is due to her character, Daisy, whom I could not warm to. There is nothing wrong with Linney's performance, it merely failed to leave a lasting impression.The quality of the DVD is good. Picture and sound are clear, and the extra features included provide valuable insights for those interested in both the making of the film and the historical events the story is based on.

I was prompted to view this movie as I had just finished the excellent series “Atlantic crossing” about Hitlers invasion of Norway and the subsequent trip to America by Princess Martha of Sweden who was also crown princess of Norway. She became a mistress of Roosevelt as did Daisy in this film.What is so interesting is to see how Roosevelt was able to keep a series of mistresses without it being generally known in America. They were tolerated by his wife and the secret kept by the press corps. In fact you see the press photographers when taking pictures carefully avoiding them but also making sure that Roosevelts other big secret is not revealed - the fact that he could not walk as he had had polio affecting his legs. Very different from the press today.The film is also about the visit by King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth to see Roosevelt to ask for help in the UK war effort at a time before America had joined the conflict. This aspect of the movie is almost eclipsed by the relationships between Roosevelts wife and mistresses often with more than one mistress in attendance at any given time.Well worth viewing.

This is a gentle slow story which intertwines the special relationship of Daisy, a rather dowdy distant cousin of Franklin Roosevelt with the president and how she comes to manage the realisation that he has other 'special relationships' too. This all happens very slowly, and could have been covered in about 20 minutes.The main event of the film is the visit to the USA of King George VI shortly before the outbreak of the second world war in the attempt to gain help for the upcoming war effort. The culture clash of the once mighty British Empire now rather supplicant to the new power of the United States is almost painful to watch at times, with Roosevelt, although broadly sympathetic, unable to resit a little fun at the royal family's expense - not least by introducing them to eating the least royal of delicacies - the hot dog.Pleasant enough viewing- historically interesting about the development of the Special Relationship- but slow, slow

This is an excellent film, with top performances from the stars. Bill Murray is terrific at FDR. Samuel West delivers a moving performance as George VI, Olivia Colman gives one of her best earlier performances as Queen Elizabeth, and Laura Linney and Olivia Williams give solidly good performances as Daisy and Eleanor Roosevelt respectively. This film is an insightful look at a surprisingly under-represented American President in film, masterly put together by the director of Notting Hill, Roger Michell. Well worth a watch!

Based on fact - FDR was human - and a great leader - this movie is well done with just the right touch of hmour and drama

Mi ha aiutato a capire meglio tre cose.La prima: la storia del mondo è fatta dagli uomini e passa dai dettagli, dagli incontri, dalle piccole decisioni personali (la seconda guerra mondiale, in qualche modo, è stata decisa dal morso a un hot-dog).La seconda: un uomo può essere un grande politico anche se la sua vita privata è moralmente un disastro.La terza: senza l'invasione smodata di internet, il mondo aveva meno problemi. Occorrerebbe ripensare a come vengono usati i mezzi di informazione, perché non è detto che raccontate tutto di tutti sia sempre la cosa migliore per il bene del mondo.

Usage privé. J’avais déjà vu ce film au cinéma. Ravi de l’avoir revisionné

アメリカ大統領のフランクリン・ルーズベルトと不倫関係にあったとされるデイジーの彼女の日記から構想を得て作品化されたイギリス映画です。ですので、物語自体の真偽の程は判りません。大統領の邸宅にイギリス国王夫妻が訪問して、そこでの出来事がメインとなっています。アメリカのAmazonの評価を見ると★５から３がそれぞれ２５％位あと２－１が２５％位です。デイジーに感情移入して見る人もいれば、大統領やイギリス国王からの立場で見る人もいるでしょう。当時、第二次大戦の直前で戦争開戦時にどうしてもアメリカの協力が欲しいイギリス、不干渉主義を守りたいアメリカその駆け引きもあると思うとこの映画も深みが増して評価が上がるでしょう。、単なるスキャンダル映画と見ると評価は下がるでしょう。自分の場合は７５点を付けたいので★３つです。

In certi momenti un po' lento ma ugualmente piacevole