The King's Speech · written by David Seidler · 2010

Logue uses angry swearing to show Bertie that emotion can loosen his speech.

Scene 51 of 100 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act two

Bertie
Lionel
Antony

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 52 min into a 1:31 film

The story so farBefore scene 51

Prince Albert seeks to overcome a lifelong stammer so he can serve his country, but his fear of public failure and the royal hierarchy obstruct his work with an unconventional speech therapist.

Scenes 1–11
Bertie lives within royal ceremony but cannot speak publicly and remains constrained by family roles.
Scenes 12–24
Elizabeth seeks a different treatment because Bertie must speak and conventional medicine has failed.
Scenes 25–30
Bertie enters Logue’s unfamiliar, egalitarian practice and finally commits to its daily work.
Scene 41
Bertie begins trusting Logue with the family history and humiliations beneath his speech difficulty.
Just before
Scene 48
In the wine cellar, Bertie presses David to attend to royal duties instead of Wallis’s wishes.
Scene 49
David tells Bertie that Wallis is divorcing her husband and that he intends to marry her.
Scene 50
David argues for his freedom to marry Wallis, mocks Bertie’s speech lessons, and leaves him unable to answer.
Scene 51
This scene

51INT. LOGUE’S CONSULTATION ROOM, HARLEY STREET - NEW DAY

Bertie stands shattered, lost in painful memory.

BERTIE

All that work, down the drain. My

own brother... I couldn’t say...I

could say...I couldn’t say a word

in reply!

LIONEL

Why do you stammer more with David

than you do with me?

BERTIE

Because you’re bloody well paid to

listen!

The latter, angry, sentence is flawless.

LIONEL

I’m not a geisha girl.

BERTIE

Stop trying to be so bloody clever!

LIONEL

What is it about David that stops

you speaking?

BERTIE

What the bloody hell is it that

makes you bloody well want to go on

about David?

LIONEL

Vulgar but fluent. You don’t

stammer when you swear.

BERTIE

Bugger off!

LIONEL

Is that the best you can do?

BERTIE

Well bloody bugger to you, you

beastly bastard.

LIONEL

A public school prig can do better

than that.

BERTIE

Shit then. Shit, shit, shit!

LIONEL

See how defecation flows trippingly

from the tongue?

BERTIE

Because I’m angry!

LIONEL

Ah. Know the f-word?

BERTIE

Fornication?

LIONEL

Bertie.

Lionel gives him a look.

BERTIE

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

LIONEL

Yes! You see! Not a hesitation!

BERTIE