Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II is not a woman so much as a role she never chose, thrust into the crown young and forced to fold her private self away beneath duty. She is watchful, dry-humoured in flashes, and endlessly conscious of what the institution requires of her, even as her own wishes go unspoken.

Three actresses trace her across decades without ever softening the central puzzle: what does it cost a person to become a symbol? Foy plays the ache of a young woman learning restraint, Colman the weary irony of middle command, Staunton the flint of someone who has fully become the part. Together they make stillness riveting.