By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Emily Blunt | Jim Broadbent | Miranda Richardson | Paul Bettany | Rupert Friend | Thomas Krestschmann
Country: united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 105
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/
Jason says: “A quality, old-fashioned costume drama, well-done enough that there’s really not a whole lot to say about it. Emily Blunt is fairly impressive in the title role, humanizing a figure often thought of as little but stern and elderly, even though the fact that she assumed the throne at a very young age is one of the ost important things to remember about her. The rest of the cast is similarly high-quality, from Jim Broadbent in an all-too-brief role as her uncle, King William, to Rupert Friend as the prince sent to woo Victoria for strategic reasons who ultimately falls for her, to Mark Strong as the minor noble who attempts to control her through her mother. Then there’s Miranda Richardson as said mother, Paul Bettany as the politician who forges an alliance…
“In fact, the film’s biggest weakness is that there’s clearly too much hear for just one movie. Mark Strong is such a strong, forceful villain – better than he was in Sherlock Holmes, honestly – that it’s a bummer to see him fade into the background halfway through. But, I wouldn’t want to lose any of the love story. And then, there are whole great swaths of Victoria’s life just mentioned in passing by the end credits. This would have made a great miniseries, akin to HBO’s John Adams. It still makes a very good movie; it just sometimes feels like it can’t decide how focused it wants to be on the Victoria/Albert romance. 4 cats
“Seen 10 January 2010 at the Stuart Street Playhouse (first-and-a-half-run)”