---
title: "The Special Relationship"
year: 2010
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-special-relationship"
fi1m_id: "the-special-relationship"
imdb_id: "tt1117646"
tmdb_id: 45371
wikidata_id: "Q3417779"
fi1m_score: 58
critics_score: 56
critics_reviews: 8
published: "2026-10-07T15:42:22.440789+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T15:42:22.816346+00:00"
region: "AT"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Special Relationship (2010)

Directed by Richard Loncraine · 1h 33m · Drama, History

## Identity

The Special Relationship

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-special-relationship
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-special-relationship
- **IMDb ID:** tt1117646
- **TMDB ID:** 45371
- **Wikidata ID:** Q3417779
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1117646/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/45371, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3417779

**Fi1m score: 58** · Critics 56 from 8 reviews

*In a sentence:* Two grins in a room, and only one of them is doing any acting

> Peter Morgan’s third film about Tony Blair, with Michael Sheen in the part for the third time, is brisk, intelligent and over before it has settled. Sheen and Hope Davis are worth the evening; Dennis Quaid’s Clinton stays an impression, and 93 minutes is not enough for four years.

## Synopsis

London and Washington, 1996 to 1997. Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), leader of the opposition and expected to win the next election, flies to Washington with his chief of staff Jonathan Powell (Adam Godley) to learn from the people who got Bill Clinton (Dennis Quaid) elected. He is granted a few minutes in the Oval Office and gets rather more: Clinton tells him he will win, and how to carry himself when he does. Back home, Cherie Blair (Helen McCrory) and press secretary Alastair Campbell (Mark Bazeley) watch the two men take to each other. When Blair wins, the Clintons come to London, and Hillary Clinton (Hope Davis) sizes up the new couple over dinner. The question the film asks is how long the friendship can survive the two men’s jobs.

## Review

Peter Morgan has written about Tony Blair twice before, in [*The Deal*](https://film.one/film/the-deal) (2003) and [*The Queen*](https://film.one/film/the-queen) (2006), and both times Michael Sheen played him. *The Special Relationship* closes the set by crossing the Atlantic: Blair in opposition, flying to Washington to learn from Bill Clinton’s people how a centre-left party wins, and then Blair in power, finding out what the lesson cost. It is a decent film and a hurried one. Richard Loncraine directs it cleanly, the cast is mostly good, and at 93 minutes it skims four years of two governments that would have filled a series.

Sheen is the reason to watch. He has the grin, the hand on the forearm, the way of leaning into a conversation as if it were an embrace, and he has had three films to find what is underneath them. What is new here is confidence arriving: the pupil in the Oval Office, nodding and taking notes, turns over the course of the film into a man who thinks he knows better, and Sheen does it by degrees, mostly in how long he lets Clinton finish a sentence. Helen McCrory’s Cherie Blair is sharper than the script strictly needs, suspicious of Washington from the first handshake and the only person in the film who says so out loud. Adam Godley’s Jonathan Powell and Mark Bazeley’s Alastair Campbell bustle about behind them and look like men who have slept in the office.

Dennis Quaid has done the work. He has the Arkansas vowels, the bulk, the jabbing thumb, the habit of making a room feel it has been personally forgiven. What he does not have is a Clinton we believe exists when the camera is elsewhere. We watched a performance, admired it, and never once forgot we were watching it. Hope Davis is far better as Hillary Clinton, playing her as the cleverest person in every room and the one most tired of having to prove it. When the scandal arrives, and the film treats it as the middle act, Davis mostly listens, and the one time *The Special Relationship* got past our guard was a shot of her face while her husband talks, saying nothing, giving nothing, and plainly deciding something. It is over in seconds and it is the most honest moment in the film.

The craft is tidy and unshowy. Barry Ackroyd shoots it loosely, often handheld, in offices, planes and corridors, so that the camera seems to be eavesdropping rather than staging. Maria Djurkovic’s rooms, the cream and gilt of the Oval Office, the lamps and borrowed furniture of Downing Street, look like places people pass through rather than own. Consolata Boyle dresses Blair in suits he grows into and Clinton in jackets he already fills. Alexandre Desplat’s score is light on its feet, piano and strings keeping the tone amused, and it tells us this is a comedy of manners even in the scenes where the subject is bombing. Melanie Oliver cuts it fast, with news footage stitched in to carry us across the years, and that speed is the problem as well as the method.

Because Morgan has built the film out of telephone calls, and two men on telephones is a dramatic form with limits. An election, a scandal, Northern Ireland and a war each get a scene and a caption and are gone. The stretch in the last third where the friendship turns is the best written material in the film, and also the most rushed; we will not describe it, except to say that it needed twenty minutes and gets about eight. We were never bored. We were hurried, which is a different complaint, and we kept checking how much was left and finding there was not much.

*The Queen* had one week and one house, and *The Deal* had one restaurant table and a decade of resentment. This one has two capitals and no centre of gravity, and Loncraine, for all his tidiness, never slows it down long enough to find one. The reviews so far are split roughly down the middle, and we can see why: every virtue here is real, and every one of them is interrupted.

Watch it at home, after the other two, where its 93 minutes feel less like a shortfall and more like a long final episode. Stay for Sheen, stay for Davis, and do not expect to learn anything about Bill Clinton that a good impressionist could not have told you.

*Fi1m score 58, published 7 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is The Special Relationship worth watching?**

*The Special Relationship* is worth an evening for Michael Sheen's third turn as Tony Blair and Hope Davis's Hillary Clinton, and we scored it 58. It is brisk and intelligent but skims four years of two governments in 93 minutes, and Dennis Quaid's Clinton never gets past impression. Best watched at home, after Peter Morgan's two earlier Blair films.

**How long is The Special Relationship, and what is it rated?**

*The Special Relationship* runs 1h 33m. It is a drama and history film.

**Where can I watch The Special Relationship in Austria?**

*The Special Relationship* is streaming on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video in Austria. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does The Special Relationship compare to The Queen?**

*The Special Relationship* is the slighter film beside [*The Queen*](https://film.one/film/the-queen), which keeps Morgan and Sheen's Blair to one week and one house and is the better for it. The later film spreads itself across two capitals and a string of telephone calls, and never settles. See *The Queen* first; this one works as a long final episode.

**What should I watch after The Special Relationship?**

After *The Special Relationship*, try [*The Queen*](https://film.one/film/the-queen) (2006, Fi1m 84): Morgan and Sheen’s Blair at his best, over one week, in one house. Then [*In the Loop*](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop) (2009, Fi1m 92): The transatlantic alliance as farce, with the swearing the civil servants actually do.

### Reviews we read (8)

- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Barry Garron (85/100, inferred): Garron finds the film thoughtful, revealing, and honest in its account of power and politics. He praises its well-chosen cast and high production values. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/special-relationship-tv-review-29672/)
- **The Guardian**, Phil Hogan (80/100, inferred): Hogan finds the film compelling and elegiac, presenting Blair’s virtues as seeds of his later hubris. He particularly praises Michael Sheen’s mastery of Blair’s eager manner and expressions. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/sep/19/special-relationship-coronation-street-review)
- **The AV Club**, Emily St. James (65/100, inferred): The review finds the film uneven, with rushed and chaotic storytelling undermining an otherwise strong central story. It especially praises Michael Sheen’s nuanced performance as Blair, which helps ground the film. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-special-relationship-1798165106)
- **The New York Times**, Mike Hale (65/100, inferred): Hale finds the film engaging overall. Its treatment of the Blair–Clinton relationship is a central strength. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/arts/television/28special.html)
- **Empire**, Dan Jolin (45/100, inferred): Jolin finds the film close but ultimately hampered by a rushed pace that leaves its subject matter underserved. He praises the transformative performances, especially Dennis Quaid’s striking Arkansas accent. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/special-relationship-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Mary McNamara (35/100, inferred): McNamara finds this the weakest entry in the trilogy, criticizing its idealized Blair and the strained portrayal of Clinton. She praises Hope Davis’s sharp Hillary Clinton and says the final scenes regain much of the trilogy’s power. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-28-la-et-special-review-20100528-story.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Peter Swanson (35/100, inferred): Swanson finds the film decent but the weakest entry in the Blair trilogy, with an episodic story built around an underdeveloped central idea. He singles out Hope Davis’s nuanced portrayal of Hillary Clinton, especially during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/the-special-relationship/)
- **Variety**, Brian Lowry (35/100, inferred): Lowry finds the film an undistinguished and episodic addition to Peter Morgan’s Blair trilogy. He praises Michael Sheen’s accomplished portrayal of Blair, but says the Clinton performances remain impressions rather than fully realized characters. [Read](https://variety.com/2010/tv/reviews/the-special-relationship-1117942841/)

## Details

- **Director:** Richard Loncraine
- **Director:** Richard Loncraine
- **Writer:** Peter Morgan
- **Cinematography:** Barry Ackroyd
- **Editor:** Melanie Oliver
- **Music:** Alexandre Desplat
- **Production design:** Maria Djurkovic
- **Costume design:** Consolata Boyle
- **Producer:** Tracey Scoffield, Frank Doelger
- **Cast:** Michael Sheen as Tony Blair; Demetri Goritsas as Strategist; Adam Godley as Jonathan Powell; Marc Rioufol as Jacques Chirac; Mark Bazeley as Alastair Campbell; Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair; Nancy Crane as Protocol Officer; Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton
- **Runtime:** 1h 33m
- **First release (the US):** 29 May 2010
- **Genres:** Drama, History
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWHjHMrRiE4

## Where to watch in Austria

- HBO Max: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on

*Checked 2026-10-07.*

Also available in: AR, AT, BG, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, HK, HR, HU, ID, IL, IT, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Queen* (2006), Fi1m 84: Morgan and Sheen’s Blair at his best, over one week, in one house — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-queen.md)
- *Primary Colors* (1998): Travolta’s Clinton in all but name, and a sharper account of the charm
- *In the Loop* (2009), Fi1m 92: The transatlantic alliance as farce, with the swearing the civil servants actually do — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop.md)
- *Il Divo* (2008): Sorrentino’s Andreotti: a prime minister as a locked box, filmed like an opera
- *The Candidate* (1972): Redford learns to win and forgets why he wanted to; still the template

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-special-relationship