THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE opens in 1788, with the King (Hawthorne) still bitter over the loss of the American colonies. Always something of an eccentric, George soon appears to be growing more and more unstable, a situation with profound political ramifications. The King's supporters, led by Prime Minister William Pitt (Julian Wadham), realize that their fortunes are tied to his, and try to keep him out of sight. Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett), bored with a life of "nothing to do," seeks to have his father declared incompetent and himself named as regent, and allies himself with Pitt's rival Charles James Fox (Jim Carter). As support for Fox's bill grows, the King's supporters bring in Willis (Ian Holm), an unorthodox "doctor" who intends to cure the King's madness by any means necessary.

Perhaps more than anything else, THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE is about the dissolution of monarchy. It takes place on the eve of the French Revolution, during a time of social change throughout the Western world, and presents in George III a king confronted for perhaps the first time with his own humanity. As he is subjected to every possible indignity (including incontinence and the barbaric treatments prescribed by his buffoonish cadre of doctors), George III desperately and persistently pronounces his place as God's annointed one. Finally, as Willis straps him to a chair, his statement that "I am the King" is greeted by a simple "No...you are the patient." From the opening sequence, which shows the King being adorned for an a public appearance, it becomes clear that we will see him stripped down to nothing, to the simple, sick man that he is.

If it appears from this description that Alan Bennett, who adapted his own stage play for the screen, is baldly anti-royalty, that isn't entirely the case. He makes George a remarkably sympathetic character, and casts an even darker eye on the machinations of those whose only concerns about his well-being are political. Much of the credit for the success of King George as a character goes to Nigel Hawthorne, who also played the role on stage. He is by turns comic, petulant, tender and infuriating, crafting a performance so vivid that it is easy to forget that he is playing a king. His scenes of his private relationship with Queen Charlotte (Helen Mirren) show a gentle and devoted husband who refers to his wife as "Mrs. King," and they are quite affecting, but his finest moment may be a scene with no dialogue. With little more than a lowering of his eyes and a swallow, he becomes a thoroughly beaten man who has lost the last shred of his royal dignity.

The most pleasant surprise in THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE may be that stage director Nicholas Hytner, in his first screen directing effort, demonstrates such an instinctive understanding of what makes the two media different. He opens up the play, taking advantage of Ken Adam's superb production design, and he uses close-ups to marvelous effect. In fact, the only things wrong with the film might be a few lackluster supporting performances and references which require a bit too much knowledge of British political history (notably a pun on "Pitt the elder and Pitt the younger"). As a whole, however, THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE is a wonderfully realized story of a turning point in the history of the world, when the head that wore the crown became just the head of another man with very human frailties.