Movie commentary

The background to A Royal Night Out (2015, UK) is that the Nazis have surrendered to allied forces, in World War II.

World War II forced the English princesses, the only children of the King and Queen of England, to be ‘holed’ up inside the royal palace, according to A Royal Night Out.

Princesses Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) and Margaret (Bel Powley) try to persuade their father to let them out of the royal palace to celebrate VE Day or Victory in Europe Day, May 1945.

The “cloistered” sisters beg their father to get out of the royal house and enjoy a bit of fun and adventure.

For princesses any public showing has to be well guarded, but their father relents on their night out.

In A Royal Night Out there is something just as interesting as celebration following victory. That is how a person venturing out of a comfort zone and the person on the street can connect and be enriched by one another despite venturing out to the unknown.

Royalty may seem to live a ‘fortress’ away from the everyday bustle of real life, though. Their lives detached from the concerns of the average punter. Restless sisters go for the highs of a great night out, but it seems royalty is a notch above, on a different level, on a different playing field. People of power seem to live a life far removed from most people. How would she connect?

Princess Elizabeth may have secretly desired to live for a moment the experience of ‘everyday’ people, though. She may have wanted to feel down to earth.

On her royal night out, refined Elizabeth meets a solider, Jack, who is rough around the edges, but has a heart of gold. You could say that encounters like these are either dangerous or life enhancing. Could Elizabeth’s unlikely relationship be insightful?

Perhaps Elizabeth may make a connection that changes her from the inside out—in that her role as a future queen would be forever altered—and Jack may never see a royal the same way again.