Review: The Young Victoria (2009)

[Mark R. Leeper]

                        THE YOUNG VICTORIA
                (a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

     CAPSULE: Director Jean-Marc Vallee and screenwriter
     Julian Fellowes bring us the story of the rocky, early
     years of what was to become England's longest monarchy.
     The film starts with some of the drama of that other
     film of another English queen, ELIZABETH.  Perhaps
     because of the directing or perhaps because of stilted
     manners of the late Georgian and early Victorian era
     the film never again catches fire as it does in the
     early scenes.  This is a story of romance, of influence
     peddling, and of betrayals, played so dryly that we
     never strongly care what happens.  Rating: low +2
     (-4 to +4) or 7/10

Very early in THE YOUNG VICTORIA we see the future queen (played by
Emily Blunt) just seventeen years old and ill while her stepfather
is browbeating her and she is vehemently resisting.  He could be
trying to convince her to take cough syrup.  In fact, he is Sir
John Conroy (Mark Strong) and he is trying to coerce her to sign an
order making her mother, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson),
her regent.  That would be making him the de facto ruler of the
United Kingdom.  She has power now, even if too young to wear the
crown, and if she gives it up she will probably never get it back.
It is the signature moment of the film.  Here is a girl the age of
a high school junior and her family squabbles and her attitudes and
decisions will heavily impact not just her life but also the future
of her country, Europe, and the world.  She is a young woman, but
she is the center of a very high-stakes game for power.

This is the story about how Victoria played a dangerous game of
power and tried to find love and fulfillment.  Suitors besiege her
in the hopes of winning her hand and her power.  Many would wish to
be her advisor.  In the next few years she would ascend to the
throne as Queen of England and would have to run her country.
Needing help in playing the game she gets an advisor whom she at
least temporarily trusts, Lord Melbourne.  (Melbourne is played by
Paul Bettany who had no easy time--and in fact fails--playing a man
who was forty years Victoria's senior.)  One of her suitors is
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg (Rupert Friend).  At first he is
obviously a puppet groomed and tutored to attract her with
pretended identical interests, a ruse she sees through immediately.
Once Albert can be himself, the two find that they might just like
each other.  Their on-again, off-again relationship might lead the
viewer to wonder if they have a future together (at least if the
viewer has not been to the Victoria and Albert Museum).

As a viewer I was interested in the history, but found this film
frustrating.  People of this time period were expected to behave
very properly and to not show a lot of emotion, certainly in
public.  That or the acting robs these characters of much of their
interest value.  Blunt is charming as Victoria in ways that may not
be expected by most people who have seen the usual rounded and
older pictures of The Old Queen.  But the people of this story are
not much more interesting than they would be in a non-fiction
history book.  It is worth seeing the late Georgian fashions and
furnishings, but the actors are little more.  Bloodless and
reserved, they just never come to life.  All the plots against
Victoria are just ever so slightly distressing.  There would be
little dramatic tension even if the viewer were uncertain how it
all came out, but the future of this couple and later of just
Victoria is just too well known.  Even to the end we are never sure
if she love better Albert or her spaniel.  But she was the longest
reigning monarch of Britain, a title she will continue to hold
until she is surpassed on August 20, 2015.

With expectations from films like ELIZABETH, the viewer might be
disappointed at how unexciting the presentation is here.  The film
is better as a history lesson, albeit not a reliable one, than as
an exciting historical entertainment.  I rate THE YOUNG VICTORIA a
low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.

Film Credits: <http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/>

What others are saying:
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/young_victoria/>


					Mark R. Leeper
					mleeper at optonline.net
					Copyright 2009 Mark R. Leeper