You hear the synopsis: A historical dramatization of the sordid politics surrounding a young Queen of England’s rise to power. You feel you know this film. “Historical dramatization” puts it at a movie excursion of epic proportions, trip to the bathroom beforehand. Don’t buy a soda. Then the word “Queen” dictates pockets of tissues for a tale of immobilizing propriety and manipulation in marriage. Then comes the tagline, “Love rules All.” Well, now you find you’re quite unprepared for The Young Victoria.
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. with Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany, The Young Victoria remembers Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as the greatest love story ever told. It lays the foundation for a widow in black until her own death, and the statue she erects in her husband’s honor.
From history we know her reign as the Victorian Era, a time marked by industrial, political, scientific and social progress. She was Queen when England became the world power. Film has always catered to the opulence of that era and The Young Victoria continues in this vein. Yet, the dynamic cinematography pushes the film to feel real despite the static palaces and dress of the time.
While The Young Victoria is an eye-dazzling period piece about the royal family, Vallée uses this setting and its characters as a framework rather than a focus. Best known for C.R.A.Z.Y, an exploratory family drama, Vallée brings his knack for presenting real people to the film. Stripped of their titles, what was the royal family but a daughter who resented an overbearing mother and a sick uncle given to drunken displays of hostility towards a sister-in-law he hated?
The miraculous thing about The Young Victoria is the way it gets the audience beyond its larger-than-life extenuating circumstances and opulence. While the history and setting delight us, they do not overpower us.
We are taken in by the talented Rupert Friend (Pride and Prejudice) as Prince Albert and Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) as Queen Victoria. Blunt has even been nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal. The two work in Vallée’s purpose to breathe life into the smallest nuances of Albert and Victoria’s love.
Even though it is only a glimpse, The Young Victoria gives you a sense of the greatest love story ever lived.
