<P> Hitchens and Chotiner also challenged the film's portrayal of Winston Churchill's role in the abdication crisis . It is well established that Churchill encouraged Edward VIII to resist pressure to abdicate, whereas he is portrayed in the film as supportive of the Duke of York and not opposed to the abdication . Hitchens attributes this treatment to the "cult" surrounding Churchill's legacy . In a smart, well - made film "would the true story not have been fractionally more interesting for the audience?", he wondered . </P> <P> Martin Filler acknowledged that the film legitimately used artistic licence to make valid dramatic points, such as in the probably imagined scene when George V lectures his son on the importance of broadcasting . Filler cautions that George VI would never have tolerated Logue addressing him casually, nor swearing, and the King almost certainly would have understood a newsreel of Hitler speaking in German . Filler makes the larger point that both the King and his wife were, in reality, lukewarm towards Churchill because of the latter's support for his brother during the abdication crisis . </P> <P> Commenting on the film's final scene on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, Andrew Roberts has written, "The scene is fairly absurd from a historical point of view--Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill were not present and there were no cheering crowds outside Buckingham Palace ." But Roberts praises the film overall as a sympathetic portrayal of the King's "quiet, unassuming heroism"... The portrayals by Firth and Bonham Carter are sympathetic and acute, and the movie's occasional factual bêtises should not detract from that ." </P> <P> The film had its world première on 6 September 2010 at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States . It was screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, on Firth's 50th birthday, where it received a standing ovation and won the People's Choice Award . The cinema release poster was re-designed to show an extreme close - up of Firth's jaw and a microphone after Hooper criticised the first design as a "train smash". Tim Appelo called the original, air - brushed effort, which showed the three leads, "shockingly awful" though the new one "really is worthwhile". </P>

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