The Young Victoria **** (2009, Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent, Julian Glover, Miranda Richardson, Mark Strong, Harriet Walter) – Classic Movie Review 3295

Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend are perfect as the young Queen Victoria and her prince consort Albert in this silver-spoon, velvet-plush, beautifully staged version of the little known story of the iron lady’s struggle for power and love as she eagerly seizes the throne as soon as she comes of age at 18 in 1837.

Sandy Powell won a 2010 Oscar for Best Achievement in Costume Design and it was also nominated for Best Achievement in Makeup (Jon Henry Gordon, Jenny Shircore) and Best Achievement in Art Direction for Patrice Vermette (production designer) and Maggie Gray (set decorator). Powell also won the Bafta for Best Costume Design and Jenny Shircore won for Best Make Up and Hair. Powell  inspected some of Queen Victoria’s surviving clothes, housed at Kensington Palace.

An inspired screen-writer Julian Fellowes (Oscar winner for Gosford Park) lovingly creates a splendidly gossipy, superbly crafted screenplay that mixes laughs, joy, romance, tears and, above all, court intrigue. Director Jean-Marc Vallée rushes along the taut, tense story, filming on gorgeous locations and bringing history to fresh, vibrant life. And the film really is hugely entertaining, without the usual hint of deja-vu that historical dramas can sometimes sink under.

The Brit luvvie actors are of course assembled in force, to guaranteed great effect: Paul Bettany’s Lord Melbourne, Jim Broadbent’s King William IV, Julian Glover’s Wellington, Miranda Richardson’s Duchess of Kent (the queen mum), Mark Strong’s evil adviser Sir John Conroy and Harriet Walter as the dowager queen are all marvellous, finely honed turns of true quality.

With Blunt and Friend making such a splendidly romantic couple, this is a right royal occasion that deserves a big fanfare. The film’s one and only mistake is Sinéad O’Connor’s ghastly, out-of-place love theme Only You B Love at the end. Otherwise it is perfection.

Producer Sarah Ferguson’s daughter, Princess Beatrice of York, has a cameo as one of Victoria’s ladies in waiting. Beatrice is a great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Victoria.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3295

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