Young Victoria, The (2009)
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| “You are confusing stubbornness with strength, my dear. And I warn you, the people will not like you for it.” — Queen Adelaide (Harriet Walter).
The rise to power of Queen Victoria and the story of her finding the love of her life, Prince Albert, is told in simple and engaging form in “The Young Victoria”, written by Oscar-winning screenwriter, Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. Recounting the life of the future Queen Victoria (Emily Blunt) from childhood, up to her ascendancy to power at age 18, and her eventual marriage to first cousin Prince Albert (Rupert Friend), “The Young Victoria” features a strong and assured performance from Emily Blunt in the title role. Sheltered for virtually all of her youth, Blunt’s Victoria is a cynical, yet whip-smart young girl who has withstood the attempts to have her royal status usurped by a regency order, much to the chagrin of her mother, Princess Victoria (Miranda Richardson) and her companion, John Conroy (Mark Strong). While Oscar winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) opts for safe in telling the Queen’s story, skirting over many of the controversies and scandals in the Queen’s early years on the throne, the film moves along at a nice clip. Blunt infuses her character with a tempered dose of cynicism, apropos for the Queen’s late-teenage years, and a learned sense of maturity, equally as fitting for her escalation to royalty. The always good Paul Bettany does a fine job with the underwritten Lord Melbourne role, and as the Queen’s love interest and future husband, Prince Albert, Rupert Friend restores some shine on his career, reversing the terrible work from an earlier 2009 film, “Chéri”, generating true and honest chemistry with his leading lady. Released in the spring of 2009 in Europe, and seeing a late 2009 release in the U.S., plenty has been written about this film already. Detractors have referenced the several historical inaccuracies and/or exaggerations present in the film and its relatively lighter tone, with many dismissing and disparaging the film. Even by acknowledging that a little fact-checking does reveal a lot of meat was indeed left on the proverbial bone, one would be remiss to discard “The Young Victoria” as another one of those “British costume” films. Solidly constructed, with less melodramatic tendencies than I expected, and incorporating healthy doses of humor along the way, “The Young Victoria” succeeds as an engaging and well-made film. “The Young Victoria” received the following Academy Award Nominations for 2009:
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Should I See It? |
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| YES
At its heart, this film contains a love story and a touching, beautiful one at that. Costumes flawless. Sets gorgeous. Everything is shot so pristine that the film is very technically accomplished and extremely pleasing to the eye. You will become a fan of Emily Blunt, if not so already, after watching her impressive turn in the lead role. |
NO Purists will balk at the historical liberties and the glossing over of the most controversial moments and public scorn the Queen endured during the early years of her reign; moments which at most are skirted over and not delved into too any great length. British costume film set in the 1800′s. If you are not engaged by that sentence, this film will not interest you in the slightest. |
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