‘The Young Victoria’
4 out of 5 stars
Stars: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Miranda Richardson, Mark Strong, Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
Rated PG for some mild sensuality, a scene of violence, and brief incidental language and smoking
Running Time: 104 minutes
I wish all those moony-eyed New Moonies who swarmed multiplexes last month would see this movie about a teenage girl actually worthy of their devotion.
“Young Victoria” not only has the advantage of being real, today’s sumptuously appointed biopic offers a much more romantic and empowered example of ingenue desire. Unlike the “Twilight” series’ slacker Bella, who sacrifices her own progress to follow around some pasty vampire, this heroine not only gets her guy … she was ruling the world’s greatest superpower by age 18.
“The Devil Wears Prada’s” hilarious Emily Blunt proves her ability to carry a picture, a drama at that, with her formidable but still feminine and endearing portrayal of Queen Victoria in her early years. While remaining faithful to history, the screenplay by Julian Fellowes (“Gosford Park”) shows another side of the 19th-century legend who reigned for 63 years.
Victoria looks like a pudgy, sour dowager in most famous pictures of her. But she was once something other than the haughty matriarch of nine of her own children and of an empire. She was once just a lively lass like any other — rebelling against authority, unsure of herself and soon deeply in love.
Of course, she isn’t exactly like other gals. The bloodsuckers in her life are trying to take control of England from her — after her beloved uncle King William (Jim Broadbent) dies and leaves her in the throne. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Albert (a suitably dreamy Rupert Friend) is vying for more than just her affections and her hand. Albert is trying to free himself from the manipulations of another uncle, King Leopold of Belgium (Thomas Kretschmann).
The palace intrigue includes many ambitious allies and enemies. They begin with Victoria’s scheming, smothering mother, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson), a tool of the ruthless Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong). After shaking them off, the new monarch must also elude everyone from the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) down to even her old nanny Baroness Lehzen (Jeanette Hain).
Luckily, Albert loves her for herself. Young Victoria’s struggle to have him and to situate herself as an autonomous sovereign — it makes for a juicy, if not exactly action-packed, narrative.
As directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, the period details are rendered elegantly, without overdone flourish, to appropriately reflect Victorian sensibilities. It’s one of the greatest true love stories ever told, told well.
