As a piece of historical revisionism, Young Victoria tells a fascinating and worthy tale: showing Victoria, excellently played by Emily Blunt, to be much more of a rebellious, and independent character than the dour grieving widow she is generally portrayed as. As pure entertainment, however, the film unfortunately gets slowed down by its own storyline, and never seems to really get to grips with its own intricacies, almost as if the scriptwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) had too much fascinating historical material to choose from.

Directed by Jean Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.), the film starts with the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837 and takes us back one year, introducing us to the characters, schemers, and admirers that surrounded the young royal. The film is partly the tale of a dynastic power struggle, and partly a love story: for the first part of the film, the warring families and factions of the European monarchy and within the Royal Court are depicted in very quick, broad brush strokes, including Mark Strong as the Queen mother’s scheming adviser, John Conroy, and Paul Bettany as the young queen’s aide and confidant, Lord Melbourne. Running parallel alongside this political intrigue is the love story, the tender tale of how Victoria and Albert came to know and care for each other. This part of the story, which slowly takes over from the narrative of intrigue, is the real heart of the film, and is well acted by Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend.

In a press conference following a recent screening of the film, Friend and Blunt both commented on how they wanted to avoid a traditional romantic love story: Friend spoke of how it wasn’t a ‘gooey love story’ by any means, and both actors were full of admiration for the scriptwriter Julian Fellowes, who had done his utmost to create two ‘human, arguing’ characters. Fellowes himself was aware that this relationship was key to the film, and stood in dramatic contrast to the early life of Victoria: he mentioned the atmosphere of ‘neurotic protectionism’ that surrounded the young queen – as sole heir, she was well protected and very lonely in her childhood. This early loneliness, and the subsequent change Victoria experiences as she moves into a close personal relationship with Albert, are both conveyed very well by the film.

Alongside this relationship, the film does have a number of memorable and impressive scenes. The Coronation scene that the film begins with is very powerful, making excellent use of Handel’s Zadok the Priest. The music, elaborate costume design and setting in this scene really does serve to introduce us to the awesome responsibilities that the young Victoria – seen quivering nervously as the crown is placed on her head – is about to face. Similarly, there is a memorable scene later in the film involving a drunken King William, (in an excellently played cameo by Jim Broadbent) cursing the Duchess of Kent loudly at a royal dinner party: here too, the sense of protocol and responsibility, and of the drunken King having overstepped the mark, are cleverly underlined.

For all its many good points however, the film does leave an unsatisfactory feeling. For one thing, a very large crowd of characters compete for our attention: Lord Melbourne, Peel, Wellington, Victoria’s governess Lehzen, Albert, King Leopold of Belgium, Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her advisor John Conroy all have their say. There is a major problem with the narrative: it ends with the start of Albert and Victoria’s marriage, and comes rather abruptly, so that we get the sense of a half-finished storyline, and of having watched the first episode in a long television series, where we’ve only just been introduced the characters.

It is unfortunate that the story is unsatisfactory, as the setting, design, and the acting, particularly from Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend, deserved much more. Julian Fellowes mentioned the director had been recruited because ‘he’d recognised that it was a simple family drama’. Unfortunately, he and Fellowes also recognised and attempted numerous other stories within the film as well. As a result, there are at least three or four half-made films hidden inside this one – about the political intrigue at court, about the European monarchy of the time, about Victoria’s early home life and childhood, and another about the parliament of the day: nestled in there amongst these half-finished stories - and unfortunately competing for our attention - is a fine, simple, and well-acted love story.  

Words > Stephen Sharrock