The Young Victoria (Apparition)

Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend in The Young Victoria.

The Young Victoria

Studio: Apparition
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée; Starring: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson and Jim Broadbent

Dec 18, 2009 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

Although it's refreshing to see Emily Blunt play a Brit again, her ringlet curls aren't enough to convince us that she's playing a teen through much of this historical romantic drama. Blunt is assured and stately in her role as the British monarch whose accession to the throne in 1837 launched the Victorian era, yet so much is made of Victoria's youth during the early section of the film--as a precaution to the safety of the heiress, she's not allowed climb or descend the stairway in her palace without someone holding her hand--that the smarts and resolve Blunt brings to her performance becomes a distraction. It's something that easily could be overlooked if this were a more typical life-spanning biopic, but The Young Victoria delivers what its title promises. It's just a shame that Blunt did not have the opportunity to play the Victoria of her mid-20s and beyond; the film ends just as the Queen seems to be grasping the influence of her leadership on her country.

Still, screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Academy Award winner for Gosford Park) packs plenty of historical developments and behind-the-scenes political maneuvering into the film, with Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardon) at the center of it. Keeping the film at 1 hour 40 minutes must have been a thorny task for Fellowes, but oftentimes the innuendo in his dialogue helps to condense the storytelling marvelously.

As Prince Albert, Rupert Friend is a likeably reluctant suitor to Victoria (and her eventual husband), and Paul Bettany seems to be having more fun than anyone as the Queen's devilishly calculating advisor Lord Melbourne. The visual design of the film and its spectacular palace interiors is frequently breathtaking, and director Jean-Marc Vallée sometimes breaks free of the British period drama template with some effective touches--racking focus on a seemingly endless row dining glasses and using mirrors to extend the depth of field--but other choices send him back, notably a hackneyed use of voice-over in one scene. The Young Victoria feels so alive when the music of composers such as Handel, Strauss and Schubert is invoked, it's a disservice that Ilan Eshkeri's score, which intrudes upon the romantic scenes between Victoria and Albert, should have to compete. (www.theyoungvictoriamovie.com)

Author rating: 6/10

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Average reader rating: 9/10