By Chris Cummins
chief photographer - Glow Imagery
This is a good film but not a great film. “The Young Victoria” has to be very challenging to write, direct and act because, well… the social ethos of the period this film explores was so doggedly stiff and formal. It does well to communicate some passion from its main characters despite the contraints of the period and genre but something does feel like it is missing.
Emily Blunt’s performance as the young monarch shows a actor with considerable range when you compare her performance here with the wonderful performance she gave in “The Devil Wears Prada.” Scene after scene Blunt’s performance shows a woman who is not prepared for the role of queen but she is not ill-suited for it either. We know the queen will grow. We don’t doubt it especially after she stands her ground to those who we know or suspect have only their own interests at heart.
The appeal of these kind of films seems to be learning of these historical figures in a way that kicks the dust off their lives and our stuffy notions about who they might have been. If there’s a monarch the cinema world has not seemed all that eager to explore it is the monarchy of Victoria.
In the past 10 or 15 years there seems to be a small niche of films that are devoted to the subject matter similar to “The Young Victoria” but of different monarchs in different periods. “Marie Antoinette” from 2007 and “Elizabeth” from 1998 come to mind. “Characteristic of these films is a female central character thrown into a world in which she is surrounded by those with hot and hostile ambitions, she defies a mapped out life but we are sure will have to learn the dark arts of politics and position. The lead character has to accept a life of intricate and complex politics just in order to merely survive, forget about succeeding. These are origin stories about a young woman’s ascent to tremendous positions of history, prestige and influence but the stories are even more interested in romances, torrid affairs and tidal waves of handsome suitors with wonderfully quaint and thoughtful manners. Oh, did I mention the wardrobe and locations? Good grief, that’s half the joy of these kind of films.
For most of us, to think of these people as capable of passionate love is an upending of our conventional views created by stiff paintings and dry history books which makes them all the more intriguing.
The film begins with a teen age Victoria who is little more than a human parakeet kept in a risk-free existence in one of the monarchy’s homes. She is not allowed to walk down the stairs without an adult holding her hand. She can’t sleep alone, all of her food is tested by others before she can eat it. We learn quickly these rules are not so much for her protection and welfare as they are to protect the interests and ambitions of her mother, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson) and her suitor Lord Conroy (Mark Strong) who seems to have only read the Cliff Notes version of Machiavelli’s “The Prince.” He has designs on becoming a regent until Victoria is deemed mature enough to assume the throne.
Victoria is the only heir in line after the passing of her ailing uncle King William IV(Jim Broadbent.) The tangle of familial ties is a tradition of royalty. After all, nearly all of European royalty is brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts to one another. They all have their opinions about who Victoria should marry, but somewhere, somehow Victoria has been given the right to choose her husband, a privilege few in her position have. Soon her uncle dies and she ascends to the throne. The duchess and Lord Conroy’s plans of a regency are dashed.
The queen befriends a charismatic and emerging political force in Melbourne prior to her becoming queen. At the same juncture the byzantine politics and family conections of Europe’s royal families have deemed the queen’s cousin Prince Albert a worthy candidate for courtship of the queen. I’m no expert on the predominant marriage norms of any given period but only in such films about elite royalty do we gloss over such a thorny detail as marriage between cousins.
A romantic triangle of sorts ensues among Victoria and the charismatic Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) and the German Prince Albert (Rupert Friend). Melbourne is a smooth operator. His motives and intentions are cloudy and can not be trusted. But the brilliance of such men as Melbourne is their ability to influence us in spite of our skepticism of their cloudy motives.
Soon, the young queen struggles when the political headwinds change and Melbourne is swept from power by parliament. A political crisis ensues in which her deep political loyalty to Melbourne is challenged by the changing mood of the British public. She earns public scorn and rebuke for her stubborness. The queen learns quickly from the crises that despite his warm words and affectionate smiles, what Melbourne wants and what is best for her crown and Britain is not always the same thing.
Prince Albert seizes the moment to prove his worth to the queen and councils her from afar through letters. He is dismayed by her abundant affection towards Melbourne but he persists. Albert quickly works himself into the graces of the young queen. We know he is the one for her.
They soon marry and the film challenges us to see modern values at play in the relationships in the characters. In an era in which women’s rights were not deemed a priority in any aspects of society, politics and relationships it is interesting to watch the queen’s relationship with Albert find its way. He oversteps, she oversteps, they struggle to find the boundaries and roles for one another. Albert has the difficult task of being a true partner with his wife in a world that does not value equality between spouses. It is unheard of a wife holding more public power than her husband but it is a fact of life for Albert. The queen chafes under the control of others, we know not so much because of her title but because of her past experiences.
The relationship becomes timeless because it transcends the period to become something recognizable and admirable even by today’s standards. What the two create is a relationship that is founded upon trust, purpose and mutual respect. She is queen, yes, but they are equals and partners. They find their way and build a loving and gratifying relationship that lasts 20 years until Albert dies of typhoid. The queen endures the longest reign of any English monarch.
There is something absent that does not register with the same charm or heart as other British period films that have been so wonderful. It is hard to communicate passion and arduous emotions in an era which is so well….Victorian.
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