The Queen and I

There was something I forgot to write about yesterday, a film I watched called, “The Queen and I”. It’s a documentary made by a Swedish film-maker who grew up in Iran. She was a communist in the days of the Iranian revolution, which brought about the end of the reign of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic republic. Thirty years later she’s living in Sweden, and is very sad about what has happened to her country. In this film she meets the widow of the Shah, who is living in Paris these days.

The former queen maintains contact with many people who live in Iran, and she has a strong band of followers who want to see the return of the monarchy there. In contrast, the film-maker doesn’t want to see the return of the monarchy, but she does become quite close to the former queen. She struggles, however, about how honest she can be with the queen as she makes the film, given her strong anti-monarchy feelings.

Thus. it’s a fascinating film on many levels, including ideas around where the documentary maker becomes an active participant in the film itself. I thought it was a very compelling film, and quite touching as you see the women become friends, despite their political differences, and one which I enjoyed very much.

As for today… well, I arrived home tonight feeling a little restless. I suspect it’s because I didn’t work all that hard today. Having put in more than my fair share of hours over the last few weeks, I found myself with not all that much to do at work today. Or so I thought. It’s amazing how an “empty space” fills itself quite quickly. Still, I left work a little early today (4.30), and went for a walk along Oxford Street. I was in the mood for a bit of window shopping. Unfortunately, most of the windows were pretty boring. The only excitement I found was in picking up a copy of the Mardi Gras guide which, interestingly, has a few things which I might attend this year. The only purchase I made was some pate.