All language subtitles for Helen Mirren, une actrice royale (2023)

Helen Mirren is a chameleon.

Shakespearean actress, sex symbol,

movie queen...

She is all that

and much more.

Capable of playing
any role to perfection,

she is a shape-shifting performer

with a diverse filmography

that makes her less identifiable
than many of her colleagues.

Since her debut in the 1960s,

she has been driven solely by
her irrepressible love of freedom,

her constant desire
for new challenges

and her demanding
artistic standards.

This actress of a thousand faces

has had a career like no other.

The formula for a royal actress
is easy,

but nevertheless very specific.

All of Russia

will be truly

and eternally great.

Helen Mirren rules her art

like a sovereign would her kingdom,

the only actress in the world
to possess two "Triple Crowns" -

the highest distinctions
in the world of theatre,

television and cinema,

both in the US and at home,
in Great Britain.

A queen, but also a free woman

who, throughout her career,
has fought tooth and nail

against sexism,
male chauvinism and patriarchy

to become an icon of feminism,
and celebrated as such.

No matter what sex you are,

be a feminist.

But before she became
this feminist actress

with a filmography
that reflects her own convictions,

she was just a simple little girl

brought up in post-war England,

near a popular seaside resort

far from the fancy cinemas
and theatres of London,

in a family ahead of its time.

I grew up
in an extremely small house,

a family of three children in,

you know,
a lower income sort of environment,

but one full of contradiction,
which I think was very healthy.

My parents were atheists,

and my father
was probably a communist

or extreme socialist,
but they sent me

to a Catholic convent school.

So, that in itself sort of describes

the sort of wonderful sort of
contradiction in my life as a kid.

They loved to talk about,
you know, issues like,

"Is there such a thing as a soul?",

you know, "What is art?"

and stuff like that, and...

so I was always encouraged to...

to express my opinion
and to have opinions

and to talk,

but very much within
that sort of family environment.

At home,
she was the romantic little dreamer.

Dazzled by
the lights of the fairground,

the carnival attractions

and early performances
by young dancers,

she dared to take
her first steps on the stage.

More a fan of the costumes
than the words,

she got her first applause
and got a taste for it.

But it was her mother
that would introduce her

to the words, to a lifelong passion

that would shape her destiny.

My mother took me
to an amateur production

when I was about 12 or 13
and I

just was
absolutely transported by it.

And that world of

the gravedigger and Gertrude

and Horatio and...

and that amazing world was just so,

so exciting,
and that incredible poetry...

And it sent me to Shakespeare
and I went home

and we had this... one of those
huge books of Shakespeare,

you know, I don't know if any of you
have had one of those,

where the print is, like,
this small, you know,

and I went to that book
and I just started

looking through it and reading,

finding all these amazing characters

and amazing scenes.

Unleashing her imagination like this
made her stand out from the crowd,

and it was in drama classes

that her boundless vitality
was first expressed.

In her late teens,

armed with the courage of
the unaware, she accepted an offer

that showed the world
just how bold she was.

My English teacher at the convent
suggested I should go to London

and take an audition
with the National Youth Theatre

because I'd played
Ophelia with success.

I went very secretly.

I didn't tell my family
or my friends very much

because if I wasn't accepted,

I didn't want anyone
to know about it.

My parents were not very keen
on me becoming an actress.

I think they would have originally
preferred me to be a teacher

or something like that.

They felt that one couldn't make

a living in the theatre,

and it was a very insecure thing
for a girl to do.

The audition was a success,

and at the age of 20, she was
offered the role of Cleopatra

in the Shakespearean tragedy,

making her one of the characters
the little girl, who had since

grown up considerably,
had dreamt of.

She gave the part something which

English actresses for generations
have failed to do,

and that really is
to get inside the sheer sexuality,

the built-in sexuality of the woman.

Helen had a remarkable capacity

to use herself on stage

with a kind of a zest and a joy

in the giving of bodily zest.

And she gave this
without ever losing

the Shakespearean side of the...

or the poetic side of the part.

Helen Mirren
discovered herself as a woman

and became the muse
of men who admired

what she herself described as
her "intense appearance".

From the budding maestro

to the young experimental filmmaker,

she was clearly an object
of sexual fantasy.

Embarrassed by the sensuality
that impeded her,

she nevertheless displayed,
on her first time before the camera,

a brazen eroticism

that was astonishingly natural.

Well, you do want me, don't you?

Well, what is it
you have to give me, then?

A stable full of big

racing stallions.

- Ms Mirren to see you.
- Ms Mirren.

This was where Helen Mirren revealed
all her strength and complexity,

uninhibited on stage

and intimidated in life.

I sent you this telegram.

- I bet you don't remember it.
- I do.

It said,

"Congratulations for your
marvellous performance.

I think
you're going to be a big star".

But why are you so interested in me?

Because you're a good actress.

I knew you would be a good actress.
I discovered Valentino, Milton Sills

and found James Mason,
Richard Attenborough,

because I sensed
they had something to offer.

The prestigious
Royal Shakespeare Company

also spotted her innate ability
to be someone other than herself.

She was very soon appearing
in the great classics,

making Shakespeare's words

about love and men her own.

Men prize the thing

ungained more than it is:

that she was never
yet that ever knew

love got so sweet

as when desire did sue.

Therefore, this maxim
out of love I teach:

achievement is command,

ungained,

beseech.

Audiences and critics alike
were spellbound,

and the inevitable happened:

in 1969,

the film world, in its
constant search for fresh meat,

reared its head.

James Mason,

the artist who left
his conventions in London.

It's the dress,

take it off.

Helen Mirren, of England's
Royal Shakespeare Company,

a girl approaching womanhood,

a girl approaching
the age of consent.

That's better.

The actress was not new
to playing a painter's muse,

but undressing completely
in front of a director

and a legendary actor

was a new milestone for her.

When I was making Age of Consent,

I didn't know
what the hell I was doing,

I really didn't,
because I do, in the end,

have kind of a courage and I think,

well, "you know what, Helen,
just do it".

You know, it's a British thing,
you know, just get on with it.

Sometimes you just have to,
you know, hold your nose

and jump in the deep end, really.

For the girl,
it's time for growing up.

You only want me for the pictures.

With no idea of the effect
this role would have on her image,

Helen returned
to the theatre and television,

where she rediscovered
Shakespeare, Strindberg,

Chekhov and Balzac.

COUSIN BETTE
GARETH DAVIES / 1971

I was mad to bring you here,

but it was that or cry in public.

I couldn't bear
to be a common spectacle.

But among journalists,
the naked little mermaid

was still on everyone's mind.

The formula worked:

Two articles made Helen Mirren

the "sex queen"
of the Shakespeare Company.

I don't see anything wrong with

being sexually... being thought of
as being sexually attractive.

The only thing
that I don't like about

that particular kind of label,

not that it's a label that I've ever
remotely put upon myself,

not at all, um...

but when other people
have put that label on you,

but, you know, having said that,
there it is, and the label's on you.

The only thing that I don't like
about it is that you're

wearing this label
and then the vast majority

of other people are looking at you
going, "She's not very sexy at all".

That's what I don't like.

And they're quite right - I'm not.

And so, the young actress
was branded

with the insidious sexist
characteristic of the time.

Mirren, who wanted nothing more
than to be taken seriously,

resented this cumbersome label,

so to get out of this trap,

she let her courage do the talking.

No longer the courage of the unaware

but that of a young woman
determined to be

the master of her own destiny.

She made a clear-cut decision.

With her career really taking off,
the actress dropped everything

and went to work
with director Peter Brook.

With a new company
and avant-garde methods,

her decision reflected
her complete independence.

I came to this group because

there was nothing else,
at that time, that I wanted to do

in the theatre or in acting.

There seemed to be absolutely
no reason in carrying on with that

because it wasn't
progressing anywhere.

When she followed the company
to Africa,

her agent and those around her
thought she was crazy.

But Helen was following
her inner path,

creating something new,
and wanted to broaden her horizons.

Her message was clear:
"Leave me alone!"

I didn't feel at the time
I'd learnt much,

but perhaps those
are your best lessons, the ones

that dawn on you very, very slowly
over the years,

how much you've learnt, but
in retrospect, actually, I learnt

an enormous amount from it.

Helen Mirren had certainly learnt
about herself and the theatre,

but she stood by her ambition

and returned to England.

She was now 30 years old.

She was realistic and knew
she had to reinvent herself,

but to do that,
she had to earn her place back.

By choosing to play the role
of a sex-addicted rockstar

in a play with all the trappings
of a musical,

she once again
enjoyed public success,

but fell back into a media quagmire.

In the "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll"
formula,

it was mainly the "sex" part
that interested Michael Parkinson,

the BBC's star presenter,

when he welcomed the actress
to his set.

Sex was always good for ratings.

One called her
"an amorous boa constrictor".

Others have called her
sensual, graceful,

and the final accolade, and I quote,

"She's especially telling
in projecting sluttish eroticism".

She is Miss Helen Mirren.

That was sluttishly erotic for you.

That was... that was nice.

What do you think when people
say things like that about you?

They're free to have
their own opinions of me,

they can think what they like.

Does it bother you?

No, I mean...

- Does it flatter you?
- No.

- Does it annoy you?
- No.

It just doesn't move you at all?

Not in the slightest,
in any direction whatsoever.

Do you find that this, what could be
best described as your "equipment",

in fact hinders you, perhaps,
in that pursuit?

I'd like you to explain
what you mean by my "equipment".

- For people watching...
- Great detail.

Well, your physical attributes.

You mean my fingers?

No, I meant your...

- Come on, spit it out.
- I meant your..

- ...your figure.
- My figure?

Sorry, what was the beginning
of the question? I've forgotten.

The question was:
Do you find that your figure,

your physical attributes,
which people always go on about,

hinder you in your pursuit
of the ambition

of being a successful actress...

- or a serious actress?
- ...because serious actresses can't

...have big bosoms?
Is that what you mean?

Faced with the
uninhibited vulgarity of the time,

Mirren, armed with
a strong sense of repartee,

adopted a fighting stance.

Her timid entourage
feared that the public

would associate her with the popular
feminist movements of the time,

and that a new label - hysterical -
would hinder her career.

Mirren couldn't care less.

There wasn't room for me,
the kind of feminist I was,

in the feminist movement
at that time.

There came to be room later on

as the feminist movement grew up
and developed

and opened its arms wider
to incorporate

more varieties of feminism,

more varieties of women
and what they,

you know,
what their likes and dislikes were.

But, at the same time,

I'm very, very admiring of...

of those women in the

early 70s, I guess, really,

who were, you know,
very radical and very extreme.

But it needed that radical,
extreme voice

for people to pay attention.

At the turn of the 80s,
she was neither a radical feminist

nor a mindless dolly bird,

riding the wave of an era liberating
the mechanics of the body.

Mindsets had changed

and she decided
to drive the point home.

With three films in three years,

the actress was becoming
a movie legend

and asserting her sexual charisma
in style.

First came Caligula,
a decadent erotic epic

and the scandal of the decade.

It was a trip. It was like being
on a non-stop acid trip, actually,

doing Caligula.
It was so fantastical

and weird and it was an absolutely

extraordinary experience

and one, I hasten to add, that I
wouldn't have missed for the world.

Her erotic trip
continued with Hussy,

a short film
in which she convincingly played

a cabaret prostitute -

one of her iconic roles.

Oh, thermal underwear!

You know something, honey,
you've got

an awfully big mouth
for an over-the-hill hooker.

The woman? Beaty Simons.

There are many names
that fit her profession,

and the most polite one is "hussy".

Finally, there was Excalibur,

John Boorman's great epic,

in which she played fairy Morgana -
her first role as a villain.

As a woman rebelling
against the medieval patriarchy,

she gave a dazzling performance

of outrageous lechery

that fascinated an entire generation

from the moment
the film was released.

A world of wizards,

kings,

warriors, queens, swords...

To the feminist that she was,

the sexualisation of these roles
was synonymous not with servitude

but with power.

In Excalibur,
Morgana was sexual, ambitious,

manipulative and all...

She was a mythological character

representing all the elements
that men

most fear in powerful women:

they hate their sexuality,
they hate their ambition,

they hate them being
this full, rich,

alive person.

They want the exact opposite,

which is the mother, the saint,
the nurturer,

the non-demanding, the follower,

the submissive, the "yes, darling,
I'll do anything you like

because you're my husband
and you know best".

The film marked a turning point
in her private life, too.

On the set was a novice actor

who was clearly bewitched
by the Fairy Morgana.

His name was Liam and he was
seven years younger than her.

You dated at one point.

Helen and I? Oh yes, darling.

We didn't date. We lived together.

- Oh, wow!
- We lived together. Four years.

We were... we were a serious item
for a while.

The first AD or the second AD said,

"Would you like to meet
Helen Mirren?" and I said, "Yeah,

I'd love to", so...

she walked from like 100 yards away,

dressed as Morgana le Fay,

and Ciaran's my oldest friend,
and we both went,

"Fuck."

It was like...

So I was smitten.
I think Ciaran was smitten too.

- I was certainly smitten.
- I never knew that.

You've never told me that before.
That's amazing.

Their relationship lasted
for four years.

Liam wanted children. Helen didn't.

The actress
had no maternal instinct.

As she would repeat many times,
a settled life was not in her plans,

and by 25, she already knew that.

I get great joy
in being with my sister,

who has a little boy,

but I don't think of getting married
in the near future,

or even in the distant future,
because my

imagination and my energy is

concentrated in my work.

I enjoy it enormously and

I don't want to split myself between
that and something else right now.

I mean,
I'm really very selfish about that.

The determined, stubborn woman
she was in life

was the character the actress
also wanted to portray on screen,

keeping her clothes on.

Alongside Bob Hoskins,
in The Long Good Friday,

another type of struggle began.

This film noir,
which has become cult over time,

was her first battleground.

Her targets? A scriptwriter...

and a director.

It was a pretty amazing
piece of writing.

The only big drawback

was that the woman's part was crap.

I spent a lot of my energies
on the set

kind of dragging that character
into the story,

insisting on scenes being written
and being a real pain in the a*se.

The actress succeeded

and turned the gangster's wife
she was playing

into a strong woman, a far cry from
the macho cliché of the trophy wife

that the genre was accustomed to.

THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY
JOHN MACKENZIE / 1980

Give me the gun!

Now, you've got Harris, right?

You've got him. Now you use him.

You use him
to stop this bloody havoc, right?

Mirren, who had always been

a woman of the left,
hated the chaotic, corrupt, violent

England depicted in the film.

Faced with
the Thatcherisation of mindsets,

the actress again reacted
in classic style.

Do you think you're a vagabond?

I'd like to be, I suppose. I find it
very easy to leave, always.

To leave the last thing you've done?

Yes, and to leave home and

to go off abroad, to go somewhere.

Now an established actress,

Mirren turned her attentions
to Hollywood

and discovered
the world of the studio.

On the set of 2010,

the very perilous sequel
to Kubrick's 2001,

she came face to face
with American methods.

You're supposed to arrive at your
audition with your performance

and that's it, you do it.

And then you go on set...

and they say "Oh yeah, we like that,
that's good, let's have her."

And then you go on set
and you do what...

...something else, and they go,
"Well why, what are you doing?,

Why aren't you doing
what you did in the audition?"

You go, "Well, because that
was just an audition,

there's loads of other things to do,
you know?

I thought you were... I thought you
thought I was just a good actress,

you know, so I'm...",
but no, they want

what they saw, that one thing,
they're buying that.

Harrison Ford in his
most remarkable performance.

All your work. I'm so sorry.

I'm happy, we're free.

The Mosquito Coast.

With The Mosquito Coast,

the actress' disillusionment
was even more brutal.

In the shadow of Harrison Ford,

she played a self-effacing woman
reduced to her maternal role.

When promoting the film,

she demonstrated an outspokenness
that Hollywood was not used to.

Her message to the studios
was clear:

roles like that were not for her!

It's not anything like me,
you know, I'm not like that.

I mean, I've always worked,

I've always made my own living,
I've always...

I've never been married,
I've never wanted to be married,

I've never wanted
to follow a man anywhere,

I've never ironed a man's shirt,

I've never cooked dinner for...

you know,
I don't have children, I've...

I've gone in a different direction
from that and not through

some sort of intellectual,
feminist decision.

I mean,
I was kind of born a feminist.

I didn't have to work it out,
you know?

I came to that conclusion
probably when I was about two.

In her memoirs,

Helen Mirren pokes fun at her only
American success at the time:

meeting the man
who is still the love of her life,

Taylor Hackford.

The director of Night Sun,

the actress' third American film,
already had children,

which made things easier.

So much so that, with the freedom
to change her mind,

she married him
but only 15 years after they met

and without abandoning
her convictions!

What took you so long?

I didn't like the idea of marriage.

I didn't feel
the need to be married.

I was brought up, and I do think
this is the most important

thing to teach our daughters,

is to gain financial independence.

After her failure in Hollywood,

the 42-year-old actress' career
was at a standstill

and only a miracle could save it.

This would come in Britain,
and in three acts.

The first act took place here,

at a small theatre north of London,
in 1987.

The choice of role was no accident.

Playing Madame Bovary,

a woman crushed by
her provincial middle-class status

who takes her own life in despair,

Mirren exorcised her worst fears

and channelled
all her hatred of convention.

The world of English theatre
was delighted to see her again,

and audiences
once again applauded her.

I needed a wonderful part
after playing mother.

I needed a part where I had all the
lines and everybody looked at me.

Act 2, in 1989,

was set in a bizarre restaurant

dreamt up by Peter Greenaway.

Helen Mirren appeared naked
in explicit scenes

that caused outrage.

Drawn in by the smell of scandal,

the world of cinema
rediscovered her,

but for the actress, it was mainly
about playing the complex role

of a strong woman taking revenge
on a perverse and violent husband.

Georgina,
try a little harder, please.

I go to a good hairdresser.

Yes, the best there is.

I go to a good dentist.

Yes, yeah, oh, yeah, he's Jewish.

I go to a good gynaecologist...

You what?

...who says that it's unlikely
that I'll ever have a baby,...

Georgina, Michael doesn't want
to know things like that,

...that the three miscarriages I've
had so far have ruined my insides.

Georgina, that isn't true!
Michael doesn't need to know that!

The third and final act
of this miraculous rebirth

saw her play a heroine
who was the polar opposite

of the scandalous Georgina.

It was the role
that would change her career.

On Prime Suspect...

Female murder squad officer.

...when Jane Tennison
is promoted to Chief Inspector...

I'm now in charge
of this investigation.

...her all-male team is unhappy...

We don't need her!

You don't like it?
Put in for a transfer.

...and her first case...

She's been dead maybe an hour.

...could destroy her career.

- Running out of time, ma'am?
- Yes.

Helen Mirren stars...

- What if you're wrong?
- Oh, I'm not.

...in Prime Suspect.

When you...
was this role just there,

and you read the script
and you said... what?

I said, "Thank you, God".

Yes. "Thank you, God".

As an actor or an actress,
you can very easily get left behind

in sort of what you used to be,

and people want to keep you
what you used to be and won't

allow you to grow up and grow on

and become the different person
that you are becoming in real life.

And then you find yourself
struggling to keep trying

to be this person back here
when all of your yearnings

are to be the person that you are.

And I saw this immediately
as the role that brought me

perfectly into who I am,

the age I am, the way I look...

here it is.

Voilà.

I didn't have to curl my hair,

I didn't have to... Victor Mature
said, "The hardest thing about

screen-acting
is holding your stomach in".

The reason for such great freedom?

A sisterhood unheard of
in the TV world at the time,

comprising a renowned producer,

a well-known author

and an actress
with a close relationship

with the woman
who inspired her character.

Their common goal?
To reflect the reality of the few

female cops of the time
as accurately as possible.

The policewoman that I talked to
was so, so useful

in that respect.
She said, "Never cry.

You never allow anyone
to see you crying".

And she said, "The other thing is
never fold your arms,

because to fold your arms

is ultimately...
you think it looks strong,

but actually it's a defensive...
it's a tense, defensive thing,

and this is much more powerful,

to be open, to be relaxed."

And she said,
"And then touch people a lot,

because that's...
you're incorporating them

in your area of power,

if you know what I mean".

Time to face demons...

My name's Jane,
and I'm an alcoholic.

...to find killers,...

...to finish

what's been started.

The last case.
The last ever Prime Suspect.

When I say I don't like her,

I think that she has complexity.

There are elements
that are unattractive in her.

She's not a brutal person,
but she's ruthless.

And I think that...

that is what makes her real,
and I think that's what people find

to identify with a lot in her.

In the role of Jane Tennison,

who would inspire TV channels
the world over,

Mirren consigned

the stereotype of the sympathetic,
sexy policewoman

to history and shattered the idea

that only a man could carry

a realistic detective series.

Now it's very, very common

that you have women
leading TV series.

At that time, it was unheard of.

So, when they

put it to me, they said we'll do one

and then, if it's successful,
we'll do three more.

But we won't know,
we won't be able to tell you until

we know
whether the one has worked or not.

And, of course,
it worked spectacularly well.

Thanks to the series' popularity
among Anglo-Saxon audiences,

the actress, whose career
then took on a whole new dimension,

won numerous awards.

More importantly,

it gave mature women the visibility

they'd never previously had
on the small screen.

She feels that women of a certain
age are more valued in Europe

than in America,

but that's changing and
parts are coming. Is that correct?

Well, I would say, you know,
you can't change roles for women

in drama without changing
roles for women in life,

and I think what is happening

is that roles for women in life
are changing,

in politics, in the professions,
in business,

you know, all around us, and...

as that happens, you will inevitably
see a change in the roles,

the way women
are portrayed in drama.

Mr Chairman, Mr President,

ladies and gentlemen,

I stand before you tonight,

in my Red Star
chiffon evening gown,...

For Helen Mirren,
there could be no change in mindsets

without examples of female success,

...my face softly made up
and my fair

hair gently waved,...

...wherever they come from
and whatever they may be.

...the Iron Lady
of the Western world.

I've always said how incredibly
important Margaret Thatcher was,

because, although I didn't agree
with her politics,

you know, incredible role model.

A little three-year-old says,
"Mummy, who's that?".

"That's the
Prime Minister of England".

And bonk! Into that little
three-year-old mind

comes the understanding

that she could become
Prime Minister of England.

It's so incredibly important.

Her colleague, friend
and rival Meryl Streep

might have played the Iron Lady
on the big screen,

but Helen Mirren would play

the woman next to Maggie
in the photo.

Because right from the start,

the actress had made
a name for herself playing queens

and women of power.

In 23 years in the theatre,

she got to play
Shakespeare's Cleopatra three times,

as well as
Queen Margaret in Henry VI.

Her role as Queen Charlotte
in The Madness of King George

won her a second prize at Cannes,

while she won numerous awards

for her role as Elizabeth I
in the mini-series

of the same name.

But of course,
it was her performance

in The Queen,
and the Oscar she won for it,

that would bring her
international acclaim.

No member of the royal family
will speak publicly about this.

Diana is no longer
a member of the royal family.

- What are you talking about?
- Charles,

this is a private matter.

We do things in this country
quietly, with dignity.

Will someone please save
these people from themselves?

Questions are being asked

about why the Queen
hasn't addressed her subjects

at this time of national grief.

- The Prime Minister for you, ma'am.
- You've seen today's papers?

I started looking
at all the different

portraits of Elizabeth II
that I could find

and that suddenly liberated me

because I thought, you know what?

You don't have to impersonate.

Of course, the voice
has got to be right,

the hair has got to be right,
the walk's got to be right,

the gestures have got to be right...

But it's not an impersonation.

It's a portrait,

it's a moving portrait.

But nonetheless, as an artist, me,

Helen Mirren, as an artist,

I'm allowed to do my portrait
of the Queen.

A special bond developed

between the queen and the actress,

a strange bond
between a real historical figure

and the woman responsible for
portraying her in fiction,

both in the cinema
and in the theatre, in The Audience:

a huge success
on both sides of the Atlantic,

where the portrait was, this time,
of a completely different nature.

Your Majesty.

- What's that?
- Not me, ma'am.

Nor me, ma'am.

Oh. Oh, grandchildren.

May I, ma'am?

- Oh no, now how did you do that?
- The red button, here, ma'am.

I mean, there is no red button.

Well, it disappears
when you touch it.

What?

- Nice.
- What?

- The new Samsung.
- Oh.

No, I begged them
not to give me one,

but security persuaded me it would
double as a useful tracking device,

in case I ever tried to escape.

Certainly, playing the Queen
and making me...

forcing myself to enter

into who this person is
and really come to a realisation

of what she'd done

with her life
and the way in which she'd done it,

I found a huge admiration

for her growing in me,

that actually became a love,
I would say.

You know,
it became a kind of a love and I...

I still feel that, you know.

However, Mirren had
an even closer relationship

with another sovereign.

I wouldn't have minded
playing Catherine the Great

of Russia, some time or other.

I still wouldn't, actually.

I mean, you look at these
various characters in history

and normally,
the people I'd like to play

are people
I've read about in history.

I think,
"Wow, what an incredible woman!"

This is my country.

It would be a terrible mistake
to go against me.

You love nobody but yourself.

I would like to remind you
that you owe all of your advancement

and all of your military power
to me. I own you.

Might I remind you
I waded through blood for you!

I did what I did

and I wouldn't have had any of it

any other way.

Helen Mirren

waited over 30 years
to play Catherine II,

in a prestigious mini-series
that she would also,

unusually, produce,

because her dream of portraying

the most powerful woman in the world

was primarily that
of a little girl of Russian origin.

I was born Helen Lydia Mironov.

My father was born in Russia
and his...

our surname was Mironov,

which made me Mironovna,
but, um,

when I was about 10,
my grandfather died,

and at that point my father,

who really didn't

want to be a foreigner
or a Russian, particularly,

wanted to assimilate
into British society

and changed our name to Mirren,
so that was when I became Mirren.

Russian ancestors who created
one of the country's first theatres,

a countess great-grandmother
descended from a Russian general

who fought in the Napoleonic wars,

a grandfather who was
a colonel in the Tsarist army,

stranded in London with his family
during the 1917 revolution,

and a father born in Russia

who became an Englishman
with anti-monarchist tendencies:

these were
little Helena Mironov's ancestors,

that added soul
she has learnt to cherish.

There is a soulfulness
about Russians

and an introspect.

I think my half-Russianness

is probably something to do with

the fact of me being an actor
in the first place and...

and maybe then the kind of actor
that I am, as well.

Versatile.

That's the sort of actress
she has always been,

hungrily accumulating
roles big and small,

portraying a wide variety
of characters with style,

happily embracing the complexity
of the feminine in its entirety,

and all the appearances
and conditions that went with it,

becoming every woman, even
transforming Shakespeare's Prospero

into Prospera,

all without ever losing
her typically British

sense of self-mockery.

- We're doing a calendar for John.
- And?

And, we're posing on it.

And?

That's about it really.

Naked!

It's what John suggested.

I didn't hear him use the phrase,
"Whip your bras off"!

In Calendar Girls,

she took great pleasure in
once again appearing naked.

It was her way of saying
"screw you" to producers,

filmmakers and male viewers

who thought that
women over a certain age

no longer had a place on screen,

especially when it involved
showing their bodies.

It was a wicked nod to a career

peppered with unclothed roles

and to the notorious sex symbol
label she was yet to shake off.

She was now in control
of that sex symbol status

that she'd denounced

and enjoyed playing women
who were much older

than their young lovers.

Mirren cared nothing
for the conventions

of a declining patriarchy here,
either.

- Lord Stockbridge. Guns?
- Down there on the right.

The name's Parks, Robert Parks.

Mirren was just as bold

in her choice of roles
as in performing them.

Thanks to her stubbornness
and reputation,

the actress became
very influential on film sets.

Elsie, Elsie!
You'll be sharing with...

I think if we did

sort of more like
what we just did...

It's really where you want
the dialogue. We can do...

We can improvise here,
with Mrs Croft,

or we can move off down there...

On the set of Gosford Park,
she persuaded Robert Altman

not to shoot a scene that she felt
was unnecessary for her character,

but she went further still.

I felt there was a scene missing

and that was the last scene
between Eileen Atkins and myself -

the scene between the sisters,
that didn't exist

in the original script.

He said,
"Sure, you and Eileen go away",

and Eileen Atkins and I
went away and we sat

and we improvised through the scene
and wrote it

and discussed it and then
we came back and presented it to Bob

and he said,
"I love it. Let's shoot it".

And I think
it was that scene that got me

- a nomination.
- Wow.

This scene enabled the actress

to stand out from the crowd
in an ensemble cast film

with a five-star cast.

Mirren showed just how discreetly

she could step into the spotlight.

You did what you felt
was best for him at the time.

I see that now.

Lizzie.

I've lost him, Lizzie.

I've lost him,
he'll never know me now.

At least your boy is alive.

He's alive.

That's what matters.

I never heard of you.
Must be a little bit before my time.

Well, you've heard of me now.

But beware:

one Helen Mirren can hide another.

There is nothing more powerful
than the love of family,

but you turn that into anger

and there is nothing more dangerous.

The actress had fun
starring in various

testosterone-fuelled franchises,

and Helen Mirren version 2.0,
complete with young fans,

was willing to talk about fast cars
and lots more besides.

The strength
of the female characters,

for me, is another great reason
to be in the franchise

because I love
film franchises that, um,

you know, that...

...promote women. That's not really
the right way to put it,

but, you know, that have
really authentic, good, strong

female roles. We need...

you know, the next generation
of girls need to see that

and they are beginning
to see that and that's great.

A lot of people complained
about women's roles

and it's very true,
and I used to sit

watching television

and I'd have two pieces of paper

and every time
I saw a female on the screen,

I'd put a mark

and every time I saw a male,
I'd put a mark,

through everything, advertising,

news, sports,

drama, anything,
just "bomp", "bomp"...

- That's a pretty dark pursuit.
- "Bomp", "bomp"...

I was like, wait a minute.

We are half of the human race.

Why are we not there, on any level?

You know, any level?

It drives me crazy.

Action!

Her most blunt message
concerning Hollywood chauvinism

came in the film Hitchcock,

in which she plays
the filmmaker's wife.

Long overlooked by history,

Alma Reville was the other great
architect of her husband's work,

and the actress' position was clear:

without anger,
there can be no progress.

For the first time in years,

I dare to work on something that

isn't an
Alfred Hitchcock production

and I'm met
with accusations and criticisms?

The work I am doing with Whit
gives me pleasure and purpose

and it takes absolutely nothing
away from you.

Consider this a reminder.
I am your wife, Alma Reville.

Not one of those contract blondes
you badger

and torment
with your oh-so-specific directions.

Helen Mirren knew
what she was talking about.

She, too, was a young blonde

taking directions from older men,

and while she never reported being
attacked by anyone in the industry,

she belatedly admitted
that when she first started out,

she often felt men looked at her
like a pile of meat.

It was only in 2008
that she opened up

for the first time, in a magazine,
about the daily sexual harassment

she suffered during her youth.

She also revealed
that she'd been a victim

of date rape -

rape performed by a boyfriend
or romantic acquaintance.

As a woman of her generation,

she admitted that filing a complaint
was not an option at the time

and believed such situations to be
"part of the complex relationship

between men and women".

These comments
were vehemently criticised

and very badly received
by the nascent feminist movement.

- What do we want?
- Equality!

Meow, meow, meow. Pussy power!

In the years that followed,

Helen Mirren's unambiguous stance

on neo-feminism cleared up

any misunderstandings.

Her 1975 interview
with Michael Parkinson

resurfaced on the Internet,

went viral
and turned her into a feminist icon,

but still without a label.

At a graduation ceremony in 2017,

she made a stirring profession
of faith to the younger generation.

At 72, she fully embraced her role
as a spokesperson

for the feminist cause.

No matter what sex you are,

be a feminist.

You know, in every country
and culture that I have visited,

from Sweden to Uganda,
from Singapore to Mali,

it is very clear
that when women are given respect

and the ability and the freedom
to pursue their personal dreams

and ambitions,

life improves for everyone.

That's great. Now bring
your hair to the front, beautiful.

Put your hair in front of your face.

The young woman she no longer was

had never
posed so much for photographers.

She was everywhere, fighting ageism

in style, both with...

and without make-up, embracing
the truth about the passing of time.

Helen Mirren is a performer,
perfectly in tune with the times,

and her frivolity and ingenuity

are a big hit on social networks.

This queen of show business
never forgets

that she has a message to deliver.

Compare me to Merrill, Judy, Maggie,
but why?

They're not my competition,
they're my ride or die.

See, women are a force
to be reckoned with

and I reckon I wrecked you.

You've been to hell and back, b*tch.

Helen Mirren's true strength
lies in her ability

to demonstrate such great freedom
after such a long career.

Throughout her life,
through all her struggles,

the only compass
she was ever guided by

was making her own decisions.

Making her own decision
about her death

was the courageous choice of one of
her most touching characters: Peg.

Alone in space, she has
a one-way ticket to infinity.

During her journey,

she realises that she hasn't really
lived and starts having doubts.

So,

starting today,
I'm going to be a whole new me,

a whole new Peg.

Today, it's time for Peg

to "do Peg", as they say.
How about that?

So...

Can you turn this thing around, Tym?

Peg.

This is a ship of no return.

Well...

maybe you can make an exception?

Helen Mirren has also had doubts

and openly admits that her life
has been a catalogue of mistakes,

but that if she were
to start over again,

she would do it
exactly the same way:

her way.

SUBTITLES: VICTORIA PORTER-BURNS