Review: The Young Victoria

Review: The Young Victoria

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

IMDB (International Movie Data Base) lists Queen Victoria as a character in 96 films and television shows. I daresay that, in the vast majority, she is portrayed as an older, frumpier, very Victorian Victoria. Think of The Little Princess, Mrs. Brown, and, lest we forget, Monty Python and Blackadder. Emily Blount, however, is a new Victoria: young, slender, and feisty. The period is recreated in exquisite detail, both visually and historically. The evolving relationship of Victoria and Albert (Rupert Friend) is convincing, intimate, and passionate. Such a portrayal helps us understand why Victoria chose to spend the last 40 years of her life in mourning for Albert. Blount and Friend do an excellent job in their roles, but Jim Broadbent as King William walks away with the movie every time he's on screen. His well-documented antipathy toward Victoria's controlling, grasping mother (Miranda Richardson) shoots bolts of energy into protocol-laden palace scenes that could have been quite dull.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it