Review by paul2001sw-1

Princess Margaret, the Queen's once beautiful sister, is today best remembered for her infamous rudeness, dissolute lifestyle, and premature infirmity. But it is possible to feel sorry for her, and to see as as spoilt by a combination of the absence of a role, and the first intrusions of our evolving celebrity culture. The 'Queen's Sister' is a rather peculiar rendering of her story: some of the time, it appears to be a sympathetic account of the (partly self-inflicted) awfulness of her life, but it intermittently descends into raucous satire with relatively little care for historical truth (for example, if you were to take it literally, you'd conclude the Robin Douglas-Home was Harold Wilson's son in law!). It's saved by a superb performance from Lucy Cohu as the Princess, aided by some excellent make-up work: she's physically convincing throughout, even though her character ages by over twenty years during the span of the drama (though the scenes where she sings never seem real). Interestingly, the Queen makes not a single appearance, though it's unclear whether this is a reflection of the truth, an unwillingness to directly attack the monarch, or simply a wicked delight in the idea that she only spoke to her sister through her husband, who is played by David Threllfall (clearly taking a few steps up in the world from playing Frank Gallacher!). In fact, Threlfall's performance as Philip reminds one less of the real Prince, but more of Rory Bremner impersonating his son. Overall, this is a curate's egg of a film, but Cohu makes it worth watching.