Film: Young Victoria (U/A)
Cast: Emily Blunt, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Friend, Jim Broadbent, Mark Strong
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
Rating: * * * ½
At the core, this is an enduring love story, one of history's greatest, and it is told with a fair deal of dramatic flair.
The young Princess Victoria (Blunt) is a pawn in a royal power struggle between the widowed duchess (Victoria's mother, played by Richardson), close adviser Sir John Conroy (Strong), her uncle King Leopold of Belgium (Thomas Kretschmann), the king of England, and Lord Melbourne (Bettany).
Victoria ascends the throne when she turns 18, in 1837, but she has lived life so far in a gilded cage and she is easily influenced by Lord Melbourne before she finds her true self in the love she shares with her first cousin Prince Albert (Friend).
Of course, this is not the familiar version of Victoria portrayed in history books as melancholic, older, more corpulent, and the longest reigning British monarch ever. In the film, she is endearing, wistful, and grows into decisiveness once she is sure of her own self and her desires.
The maturing is gradual. Julian Fellowes's script develops her character effectively. It is her dalliance with Lord Melbourne that lacks substantive logic. It may be historically accurate, but in the film it lacks believability. Here, Victoria is shown to be susceptible to Melbourne's advice but not his charms, and that is where there is a problem.
Despite this, the overwhelming experience is one of visual delight and pleasure. The costumes are period specific, the colours are royal and the visuals, majestic. Hagen Bogdanski's cinematography, Jill Bilcock and Matt Garner's editing, the music by Ilan Eshkeri, Patrice Vermette's production design, and the delightful performances by Blunt, Richardson and Friend add great wealth to the viewing experience!
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