Prime Video's Red, White And Royal Blue marries the Princess Diaries-nostalgia with 2000s rom com genré, think What Happens in Vegas, The Proposal, Just Go With It, et al. The result is a queer rom com which makes pertinent points about queer liberation but other than that, is mostly bland, sans flavour or candour. The romance between the lead pair starts off as a fatal attraction — the very qualities that attract them to each other might as well contribute to their break-up.
Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), was an anonymous working class kid whose mother Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman) is now the President of the United States. Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is the grandson of the King of England. After having spent his entire life in the oppressive clutches of the monarchy, Henry is now on the path to find his personal freedom and liberty which has for too long been curtailed.
An awkward run-in at the global climate conference and a cake explosion later, Alex and Henry are officially declared as nemesis. Damage control kicks in and now Henry and Alex must play best friends — they are given fact sheets about each other so they can pretend to be BFFs in media interviews to dispel rumours of a beef — after all, UK-US ties are at stake here.
The premise is promising and the film makes the most of it by exploring just how different the two Anglophonic worlds are. A cultural exchange program between delegates turns into a secret romantic affair which goes haywire when the identity of one of the two men is outed — against their consent. Both Perez and Galitzine light up every scene the two appear in — starting from the White House dinner to the scene where the two share a dance at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.
The passionate kisses, steamy kisses and the fiery chemistry between Alex-Henry propel the narrative aided by the thrill of forbidden love. The heteronormativity works in the favour of the couple — no one suspects them of being romantically involved as long as they stay within respectable distance of each other. Directed by Matthew Lopez, Red, White And Royal Blue shines in bright colours only when it is celebrating queer love, the rest of the time, it comes off as a bland drama which walks the line between being inclusive and unnecessarily preachy.
For a film that addresses just how oppressive the British monarchy with a stiff upper lip can be, Red, White and Royal Blue never quite explores the trope to its fullest, which is a shame considering how the theme has been a part of popular discourse with Harry-Meghan’s very public separation from the British monarchy. The premise of a closeted British prince is at least partially, not entirely wasted — we rarely see how Henry was subjected to the tyranny of growing up in a Royal family, with the world watching his every move and the media violating his privacy.
Much of what Henry feels is not shown, rather communicated by Henry himself in dialogues which might as well be spoken directly by looking into the camera. Granted, Henry wants to let loose and chill out for once, perhaps dance like Alex — but aren’t there better ways of communicating this complex thought than by directly saying these lines in a manner which is rather heavy-handed?
With a two part Netflix documentary, a memoir and a series on Harry-Meghan’s exit from Royal families — the writers could have, at the very least, taken a leaf out of their book There is hardly any reference to the exploitative tabloid culture in the UK, except an oblique mention of The Mirror and The Sun. All in all, the thrill of watching a forbidden love angle play out far outweighs watching the backstories of Alex and Henry.
Uma Thurman, who plays Alex's mother, holds a safe space for Alex when he comes out to her. Her empathy is endearing to watch. Somewhere in the middle, the film goes completely off-the-rails and comes back from auto-pilot mode only when a major character realizes the truth about his gender identity.
What’s worthy of appreciation though, is the film’s commentary on queer liberation. Why should Henry feel pressured to come out and own his sexuality like Alex? Why must Henry be obligated to explain his decision to not come out to Alex? These are some questions that the film grapples with.
Towards the end, Alex while delivering a speech at the White House says "Every queer person has the right to come out on their own terms and their own timeline. They also have the right to not come out at all. The forced conformity of the closet cannot be answered with forced conformity of coming out of it".
To this, Alex adds “This isn't about shame, this is about privacy and self-determination on which the struggle for queer liberation has always been fought”. That said, the ending of Red, White And Royal Blue, shows a queer couple walk out of Buckingham Palace and owning their sexuality; and a democrat emerge victorious in Presidential elections by winning Texas. Even for a Utopian world, the possibilities of the two happening seem slim.
Still, if you are in for some willing suspension of disbelief in exchange of a breezy queer rom-com, then Red, White And Royal Blue is just the film for you.
Red, White And Royal Blue is streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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