The Young Victoria

Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A-

There can be quite a preconceived attitude toward period British royalty films in Hollywood; a preconceived attitude that makes people stay away. Case in point, it took The Young Victoria months to find a U.S. distributor (It was released in the UK back in March). And it’s still not a movie people will be flocking to the theaters to see. In my opinion, that’s a real shame because The Young Victoria is more than a stodgy, uptight museum piece. It’s colorful, it breathes, it has life! Mostly thanks to the freshness of Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend and the crisp direction of Jean-Marc Vallée.

Ever since Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice changed my whole outlook on British period pieces (they don’t have to play out like stale BBC documentaries), I’ve eagerly lined up to see most ones that have come out since. Incidentally, there were two excellent ones released just this year – The Young Victoria and Bright Star - and coincidentally, the same studio, Apparition, took a chance on them. The Young Victoria is the more lavish of the two - with ornate production values, a big-name backing (producers on the film include Martin Scorsese and Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York), and the luminous Blunt (a Golden Globe nominee) as its own bright star.

For those not up on your Brit history, Queen Victoria is the longest ruling Queen ever to have reigned England, serving 63 years on the throne. Most people have an image of her in her later years, as an elderly widow dressed all in depressing black. This film seeks to show a different side to the Queen. It picks up in the year 1836, the year just before Victoria ascends the throne. She’s living life as a sheltered 17-year-old who must contend with her controlling mother, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson), and her mother’s scheming advisor, Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong). She’s finally able to break free from these constraints when her uncle, King William (a fantastic Jim Broadbent), dies and she is crowned Queen of England.

The film shows us the struggles of a girl adjusting to her new role as the most powerful woman in the country. She must learn who she can trust, how to win over the public and the most diplomatic ways to deal with politicians. But she also has more relatable experiences – like the discovery of first love.

Rupert Friend plays Prince Albert, who is at first pushed toward courting Victoria by his uncle, King Leopold of Belgium (Thomas Kretschmann). King Leopold believes it could be an advantageous marriage, but Albert refuses to be a pawn in his uncle’s game. Victoria and Albert bond over this mutual longing for control over their own destinies, and eventually do, in fact, fall genuinely in love, without any coaching from anyone else. They marry in 1840, and it’s a healthy marriage – one with ups and downs, but thankfully no ...