The Red Right Hand
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THE YOUNG VICTORIA
Love Rules All

Director
Jean-Marc Vallee

Starring
Emily Blunt
Rupert Friend
Paul Bettany
Miranda Richardson

Almost every British schoolboy and girl grows up learning about the royal families and monarchies of This Sceptred Isle. So, my memories and knowledge of Queen Victoria and her achievements are fairly expansive. The political aspirations and personal life of the young queen, however, are usually glossed over relatively quickly but most pupils understand that the love affair between Victoria and Albert was absolute and walking through London as a young man, the evidence is abundant.

Victoria, being one of the most popular and successful of the British monarchs often gets compared with Queen Elizabeth I for the sole reason that she was a female leader but strangely enough, little has actually been committed to film about our longest-serving ruler. This one and three quarter hour film focuses largely on Victoria's coronation at the age of eighteen and the opening two-three years of her reign. The story covers the frustrated years of her youth, constantly guarded and kept from public eye by her mother, the Duchess Of Kent [Richardson] and her guardian/advisor, Sir John Conroy [Mark Strong]. As the King's days of health draw to a close, everyone starts to eye the young Victoria as the likely successor and move certain individuals in place to benefit themselves; the two primary candidates being Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne [Bettany] and Prince Albert [Friend] of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As the film progresses we see Melbourne as a supportive friend but largely out for his own gain, whereas Albert has come to love and respect Victoria, while still inspired to share his headstrong ideas of reform.

As period dramas go, this film isn't exactly pushing boundaries and to explain the premise it sounds a little dull but the real driving force behind its success is a combination of an impressive quality of acting and the exceptionally written character dynamic that runs throughout. In other words, the heart of this film lies in the characters and how they are portrayed. For a film curiously produced by Martin Scorsese and the Duchess of York, you would think the funding for an A-List cast would have been pushed but thankfully Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée has hired a mixture of faces perfectly suited for the roles. Emily Blunt does an exceptional job as Victoria and embodies the frustrations of an imprisoned youth and the pressures from social climbers and political hounds. The supporting cast around her all offer commendable performances but I have gone into this at greater length in my Highlighted Character section below.

**One large sort-of spoiler**
There was, however, one very large flaw; the ending. Around the hour-and-a-half mark I turned to Mr. Wickham and said, "I don't know how they're going to end this" and surely enough, neither did the writers. Desperate to close the 'young' years and press on to the reign of the queen the script seems to round things up very quickly with rushed footage that fades in-and-out, divided only by title cards explaining how she excelled in this, that and the other and how Albert died at 42 and she never got over it. In my opinion this marred the film so dramatically that I was on the verge of knocking it down to five or six out of ten. It was also all so unbearably neat: Victoria and Albert reconcile after a brief spat, Victoria sort-of reconciles with her mother and Melbourne gives his blessings on her marriage, which seems wholly out of character. In my opinion one of two things should have been done. First, to successfully close the film in this manner you would need to explain that a sequel would certainly follow. If no sequel was planned, I would have drawn the film out for an extra half an hour, to lead up to Albert's death (possibly defeating the relevance of the title). Or, alternatively, opt for a 6-8 part mini series detailing Victoria's entire life. As it stands, this ending tarnishes a great deal of hard work by all involved.

Despite this large glaring flaw, I still found the film highly enjoyable and a welcome addition to the genre. Naturally, I am biased toward Victorian period dramas as I greatly enjoy the look and aesthetic of the era; other than the 1930's it is one of the only periods in time I would probably feel comfortable in. I do hope that the cast will reunite to detail Victoria's actual achievements in her later years (similar to Elizabeth: The Golden Age) but an internal nagging doubts this will ever come about.

Release Date:
UK - 6th March 2009
US - 18th December 2009

The Scene To Look Out For:
Two random points to highlight for you. The first is a picky moment of stupidity: inspecting Westminster Abbey (which looked more like Lincoln Cathedral to me), Victoria spies a few peasant on-lookers and acknowledges them. This action inspires one of my favourite lines in the movie, "Gawd bless ya, marm." No reason, just grinned a little - 'cause every Victorian piece needs one unfortunate to say Gawd Bless Ya to somebody or something. Secondly, we have the assassination attempt. I have a few issues with this scene; you're more than welcome to read into it how you wish. First of all, my knowledge of history is fairly sound and I know Edward Oxford fired two rounds at Victoria's carriage and both missed; he was captured, proclaimed mad and exiled to Australia (see Australians? You live in a prison). The thing that irritated me was the fact that we are supposed to believe in this great, resounding love between Victoria and Albert but it's cheapened slightly at the end because Victoria only seems to see the error of her ways when Albert's life was at risk... not because she realised how much she loved him. I don't know, it just ushers in a sense of love out of guilt as opposed to undying love that maybe I projected and picked up on unduly but it still annoyed me - another case of an unimpressive ending.

Notable Characters:
As riveting as Ms. Blunt's performance was, I found Rupert Friend's portrayal of Albert as the frustrated young lover, turned frustrated somewhat obsolete husband truly engrossing. I've seen most of Friend's previous offerings but this is certainly his finest role. Manipulated by families, timid and unsure yet headstrong and decisive when necessary, the character drew a perfect parallel for Victoria.

Highlighted Quote:
"Thank you for reminding me that I am a guest"

In A Few Words:
"Fantastic period drama marred largely by a terribly rushed finale"

Total Score:
7/10


Matthew Stogdon