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Elizabeth, new star of the big screen

KATE MUIR

TO ADD to Jubilee fare, there’s a new documentary, Elizabeth: A Portrait In Parts (★★★✩✩, 12A, 90 mins), which tracks the Queen through moments of intimacy to pageantry over her 70-year reign.

The director, the late Roger Michell, perks up the usual royal footage by intercutting it with newsreel and clips from contemporaneous films such as Cleopatra, tossing in some ska and rap music, too, but his technique is more clunky than illuminating. It’s also now hard to detach the fictional Queen in The Crown, if you’ve seen her, from reality.

Some parts still surprise: Her Majesty having a laugh before recording her Christmas Day speech, leaping up in girlish excitement at the races, and her sidesaddle riding skills as she controls a terrified horse. You can only feel deep admiration at the dedication, the tens of thousands of hands shaken, the smiles bestowed, the boredom politely hidden.

From her annus horribilis speech when Prince Charles and Diana were on the verge of separating, to other moments scripted by courtiers, you become increasingly aware of the disconnect between the stiff public persona and a charming enthusiasm when off duty.

■ In cInemas may 27, amazon Prime June 1.

■ WE GO from upstairs to downstairs in Between Two Worlds (★★★✩✩, 12A, 107 mins), starring Juliette Binoche as investigative journalist Marianne who goes undercover as a zero-hours cleaner. Living in poverty, her worst job is on the fetid ferry from France to Portsmouth: staff get four minutes to clean each cabin — including the toilet and sheets. The film can be as grinding as the job itself, but develops as rich female friendships grow.

■ THE Bob’s Burgers Movie (★★★✩✩, PG, 102 mins) takes the long-running family animation from television to the big screen and is probably for those who appreciate the dry humour of the series.

Three intrepid children fight to keep their parents’ burger bar from failing as a giant sinkhole appears in front of it. This may be cartoon fast food, but there’s a great voice cast including Zach Galifianakis and Kevin Kline.

IT’S FRIDAY! FILM

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2022-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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