Victoria and Abdul [Victoria & Abdul] ***½ (2017, Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Olivia Williams, Michael Gambon) – Movie Review

Victoria & Abdul is sweet, funny and charming. How could it not be? The 82-year-old national treasure Dench shines again, re-creating or revisiting her popular Oscar nominated role as Queen Victoria from Mrs Brown 20 years on, and Ali Fazal is loyal and expert in star support as the young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim.

The story is an embroidery on the old Victoria’s real-life unlikely friendship with Mr Karim, who brings her old madge vibrantly back to life, infuriating all her racist family and courtiers. The film hardly persuades you that this is a true story. It is clearly telling a fairy tale, and that’s fine.

Director Stephen Frears handles it discreetly, with much flair in the shooting. Dench makes boring things like eating and falling asleep funny, and greedily finds laughs in places where there isn’t one in the script.

Lee Hall, the Oscar nominated writer for Billy Elliot (2000), writes a thoroughly entertaining screenplay in the Alan Bennett vein, with lots of enjoyable lines and scenes to relish. It is based on the book by Shrabani Basu, so Hall can’t have all the credit. The last bit of the movie is the poignant and sad part. It is very well handled. It’s a film about an old lady’s twilight years, so we have to have a bit of reflection, introspection and some emotional intensity. It does give the film a bit of depth. But the first three quarters is much more fun, and we have come to have some fun, haven’t we?

The weird thing, though, is how little the supporting turns have to go on. Eddie Izzard as Bertie, the Prince of Wales, Olivia Williams as Baroness Churchill, Michael Gambon as the Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, the late Tim Pigott-Smith in his last role as Sir Henry Ponsonby, Fenella Woolgar as lady of the household Miss Phipps, and Julian Wadham as royal dinner organiser Alick Yorke don’t have much time or space or many lines to do their usual stuff, which is probably a blessing in disguise. Luckily, for example, Izzard is offered no chance to over-egg the pudding, or Gambon either.

Their roles feel edited down. Williams, for example, has more or less zero to do. But that means just more screen time for Dench and Fazal. Rightly, it’s their show, and a right royal one too. She’s the funny one, but he looks like the canny one. Adeel Akhtar , on the other hand, gets a fair crack of the whip as Karim’s Indian buddy Mohammed. That seems right, and he does well by it, making a strong impression.

Simon Callow is quite awful in his brief scene as Puccini. OK it’s a turn and it’s meant to be funny. But the turn is the same racist stuff of the Dolmio TV ads, and, hey, it isn’t funny. In a film that’s working so hard for racial harmony, why are the Italians excepted from that. Lazy writing, lazy acting. The scene is only rescued by Dench’s funny Gilbert and Sullivan singing, though that does recall the idea that Dench has never been able to sing a note successfully.

The movie looks absolutely great. It’s a total visual treat, filmed on marvellous historical locations, with very smart, fluid cinematography by Danny Cohen, lovely costumes designed by Consolata Boyle and gorgeous production design by Alan MacDonald. Thomas Newman’s score is notable too. Possible awards for these would be good.

Judi Dench won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Film Award as Best Actress for Mrs Brown (1997). With the release of Victoria and Abdul in September 2017, she is the most prolific UK feature film working actress. Queen Victoria, Sherlock Holmes and James Bond are the most featured characters in UK feature films.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Movie Review

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