Sunday, December 20, 2009

The Young Victoria (Sunday, December 20, 2009) (199)

Sometimes it feels like there's a new British royal biopic every year. Elizabeth, Elizabeth II, George III, Mary, Victoria - they're all great chances for directors to show off grand costumes and wonderful noble homes with manicured gardens and fantastic interiors. To this point, I've found most of them rather anonymous - that is, it's sometimes hard to tell one from another. They all blend together in their silk and gilt brocade, their stuffy accents and crystal chandeliers. The Young Victoria, however is a very nice movie - one that stands apart from the others by it's simple story and beautiful style.

Victoria (Emily Blunt) is a 19 year-old princess and is next in line to the British throne once her uncle William IV (Jim Broadbent) dies. She is also the niece of Leopold, King of Belgium. In order to consolidate power, Leopold introduces her to his nephew (and her cousin) Albert (Rupert Friend). The two have many interests in common and quickly fall in love, though they can only marry after her coronation. She stumbles several times in the first days of her monarchy when taking advice from a cagey politician, Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany). She soon marries Albert and has to figure out the balance between being a loving, romantic wife and a strong and sensible leader for her country.

Unlike most of the recent movies about British royalty, this one has an interesting and beautiful style from French-Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee. He uses the camera very well in a clever, but subtle way. In one wonderful scene during a birthday dinner for King William, we see a deep shot of all the wine glasses set up on the table. Vallee uses a rack focus to show the successive crystal glasses down the line. One is in focus, then the next, then the next, leading our eyes into the picture in a visually playful way. He uses these racking shots throughout the film to point our view in specific places. It is clever and dynamic and really great.

Emily Blunt is getting a lot of attention for her performance here, and she deserves it. Her Victoria is sensible, naive, feminine and powerful. She is utterly modern and strong. The other actors also deserve attention, particularly Rupert Friend who does well with a Belgian accent and plays the line between husband and adviser to the most powerful woman (most powerful person) on earth and foolish lover very well.

This is a simple story with a very tight and smart script (written by Julian Fellowes). It is a biopic as well as a more serious romance and an interesting historical political drama. I like very much that it says what it has to say quickly (it's only 100 minutes) and shows the first chapter of a tremendously interesting reign and life. It shows Victoria and Albert as soul mates and world leaders who would go on to change the course of modern human history. But it does this very gently and subtly. I look forward to the next chapter in this story - The Middle-Aged Victoria, I guess. Yes - I'm looking forward to a sequel... how strange!

Stars: 3 of 4

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