Hyde Park on Hudson

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.

A nice little film, the scenery is pretty and the contemporary music inspired. Considering how slight the story is I'm surprised that it attracted such a very good cast. The depiction of the British royal couple is pantomime - its a fairy story, so go with the flow. Where it loses points is for the fact that when it said it had subtitles, what it didn't say is that you can either have the film in English with Italian subtitles or the film in Italian with English subtitles. What you can't have is the film in English with English subtitles. Since I wanted to watch it with my mother (who is hard of hearing and needs the subtitles), this was a big disappointment.

I'm simply commenting on the product. It arrived on time, undamaged. I didn't watch much of the movie as I didn't like it right from the start, the five stars is for the product itself.

Lovely little film, I enjoyed it, very gentle & easy to watch, good actors, not too long, nice story with some bits of history thrown in, solid Sunday afternoon fayre!

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!

It is without doubt one of the worst films I have ever watched. I'm sure Bill Murray is a good actor, but the very strong British cast must be cringing to think that they were part of such a crass production. Sam West's parents: Timothy West and Prunella Scales must have been deeply embarrassed to think that their son was part of this non event. The portrayals of George VI and Queen Elizabeth were so bad; I was actually laughing out loud at the ridiculous script, which could have been written by a team of seven year olds. In reality, the King and Queen had just completed a highly successful tour of the Dominion of Canada; and were actually visiting the United States as King and Queen of Canada; not England; a country they were never monarchs of. Try the United Kingdom; it's more accurate. In addition, the portrayal of Queen Elizabeth as a pushy Home Counties snob was equally laughable. She was brought up in a very close-knit Scottish family, and loved getting away from the limelight. So in reality, the real Queen would have loved Hyde Park, and the Picnic. Having met the Queen Mother in real life, as she was by that time, I can tell you, she had a personal radiance which lit up any room as she walked in. The whole film was a gross insult to our monarchy which we still share with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the other realms around the world. It is the only DVD that has arrived through my letter box in the afternoon, and has been binned in the evening. Utter Tripe.

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.

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。

J'aime les bons films et je dis rarement un beau film, ici, c'est un beau film, bien joué, délicat, vivant par la fougue de Bill Murray, tout en finesse par le rôle de Daisy, émotion, sourires, gentillesse, et finalement le Président n'est pas le personnage sérieux qu'on pourrait croire,l'environnement est très beau et l'époque bien retracée par les décors, costumes et façon de se comporter.J'ai aussi aimé le rôle du Roi George A voir et à revoir

Ordered the DVD because we had seen it in a theater humor is very good acting is excellent as is photography.