Picturehouse Blog

Some stories are so outrageous they must be true because no one would dare make them up. One such tale inspired The Duke, a delightful new comedy-drama and the final feature from director Roger Michell, who passed away suddenly in September last year.

For someone who has given us such gifts over the years as Notting Hill and Le Week-End, this story of the 1961 theft of a Goya painting from the National Gallery is a fitting finale for a director we will sorely miss. 

To tell this tale of one stolen national treasure, two of our greatest acting treasures appear on screen together for the first time. Jim Broadbent is Kempton Bunton, a Newcastle cab driver who's short on work and quick to pick fights with the law in pursuit of his latest worthy cause for the community.

His long-suffering wife, Dorothy, is played by Helen Mirren, who cleans floors for a living while trying to clean up the messes in which her husband constantly finds himself.

When Kempton goes down to London to try to sell one of the plays he writes in his spare time, he wanders into the National Gallery to see the gallery's expensive new purchase, the painting of the Duke of Wellington, and history changes forever.

It's almost unbelievable stuff – and that's before we reach the court case that made Kempton into a folk hero, and the barrister, played by Matthew Goode, who has an innovative strategy to defend his client. It's in these magnificently staged courtroom scenes, which are full of heart and humour, that you'll find yourself laughing and/or crying. 

Shot on location in Yorkshire, this paints a picture of the north that is not clichéd or miserable but vibrant. The world of the Buntons is full of energy and people striving for big things and big ideals, and it's a reminder that we all have the power to change history in our way.

The Duke is also a story of far more modern resonance than you might expect. We may be 60 years on from the theft but one of Kempton's pet causes – free TV licences for pensioners – has been back in the news over the last couple of years.

The combination of very grounded, human drama and large-scale political ideals is perhaps why the film won five-star reviews on its debut at the Venice Film Festival and why it has thoroughly charmed preview audiences ever since.   Helen O'Hara

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