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PRESIDENTS & POTENTATES

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON 2012 117 minutes

Winston Churchill once said that meeting Franklin Delano Roosevelt was akin to “having one’s first sip of champagne.” FDR was a supremely charismatic statesman who led the country through the Great Depression and World War II, yet in many ways he was a distant figure to those who knew him best. One of the few who managed an intimate friendship was his sixth-cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley, and although some of her claims have been challenged by historians, she was a frequent companion of FDR at both the White House and the Roosevelt’s Hudson Valley residences.

In Hyde Park on Hudson, Laura Linney plays Daisy Suckley, who is initially invited to reconnect with her distant cousin but soon finds herself drawn into the President’s orbit. Shy and retiring compared to the ebullient FDR, Suckley observes the nuances of the historic visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to FDR’s Hyde Park estate during the spring of 1939. Much is at stake for the royal couple, as war is approaching with Britain in need of allies. The hesitant, inarticulate George VI––a man who never expected to be king, is played extremely well by Samuel West, but it is Bill Murray’s performance as Franklin Roosevelt that is quite extraordinary. Murray captures not just FDR’s charm, but also the jaded instincts that made him the consummate politician.

BE ADVISED–– This film is rated R, with smoking, drinking, profanity, presidential sexuality, political intriguing, and defensive royal house guests.