Those that know me well know that I love everything about the British royals—the Monarchy—so I approach a cinematic offering like The Young Victoria ready to just devour it. I’m happy to say that this film is a feast that doesn’t disappoint.
I should clarify. I do love the royals, but more than that, I love a good historical biopic film. The Young Victoria is exactly that: a dramatization of just what the name implies—the life of the young Queen Victoria. The beginning of the film covers Victoria’s growing up, her aging uncle, the King, and the power struggle that surrounded her eventual rise to the throne. Once she assumes the throne—and I hope I’m not spoiling this for anyone but she does become Queen—the rest of the film follows her settling into power, her mistakes and missteps, her personal life and, of course, her falling in love.
Love is important. The Young Victoria is as much a film about marriage as it is a biopic about the early reign of Queen Victoria. But this isn’t The Notebook. Love in The Young Victoria is as honest and as realistic as love gets. As a newly married Albert myself—it’s my middle name!—I can attest to the fact that Maria and I laughed our way through the several fight scenes in this film. I mean, it’s true, and the Queen and her Prince are no more immune from disagreeing that anyone else. But it’s brilliant in its honesty. Victoria’s marriage to Albert was as much a part of her early reign as were the scandals, the politics and the family feuds. The development of their attraction and the workings out of their early married life features prominently in this film in such a natural, organic way that renders it beyond criticism. It’s no cheesy romance, it’s life.
The Young Victoria is a visual feast all by itself. Winner of Best Costume Design at this year’s Oscars and nominated for Art Direction, which it lost to Avatar, it is indeed wonderful just to look at. The scenes at Westminster Abbey and the various castles and palaces around Britain are just gorgeous.
I also admire the fact that The Young Victoria walks the line well. The film is about Victoria and does a very good job not straying too far from its subject. In the past, I’ve been critical of biopic films that use their supposed main character as a jumping off point and stray too far into other realms. At the same time, I’ve criticized films like The Gathering Storm that focus too narrowly on their subject. The Young Victoria walks that line expertly. Enough back- and side-story is revealed to keep things from getting too confusing and even someone with only a cursory knowledge of the Queen’s life could easily enjoy the film. That said, I did find myself having to ask Maria, on a couple of occasions, who a certain character was.
If there’s one thing to be said in the negative about this film is that it could’ve been longer. Even the early life of Queen Victoria could be turned into a mini-series but I know that wasn’t the point. I’m reviewing a film. But it needs to be said. At times, there were areas of this film that could’ve been expanded much further, but working in the medium they chose understandably forced them to shorten things up. Still, there’s so much rich history here and so many interesting characters that when the credits rolled the only thing I could think of was: more!
In my mind, The Young Victoria is another film in a class of top-notch biopic films and mini-series. Immediately I think of stunning productions like John Adams, The Queen, and the two Winston Churchill features I reviewed last month. These are historical biopics that are unabashedly honest, gritty at times, and real. They are well done to the point of being a complete immersion experience, bringing history to life, and that I loudly applaud.
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