For all of its lavish set design, impeccable costuming and muscular shot composition, The Young Victoria cannot surpass one major obstacle, which is that the history of Queen Victoria is rather dry, not lending itself well to cinematic adaptation, especially when presented with patronizing simplicity. Sure, the drama in political office with Lord Melbourne (played by Paul Bettany in the film), the Whig Prime Minister, strongly influencing her actions provides some dramatic context, but the nitty-gritty of Radical and Tory rebellion in the face of certain constitutions proves too mundane for more than passing expositional mentions.
Emily Blunt plays Queen Victoria, as a young woman ascending the throne
On the narrative front, this film about the longest reigning monarch focuses its attention chiefly on Victoria (Emily Blunt) as a young woman ascending the throne, despite repeated intervention from her mother, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson) and her Svengali, Lord Conroy (Mark Strong). The struggle here is that of female empowerment in a vacuum of constant manipulation and deception, which conveniently supplies a romantic predicament when Victoria gets all tingly for her first cousin, Albert (Rupert Friend).
Eventually there is a slow motion assassination attempt, which acts as a somewhat lacklustre climax, while the majority of the story chortles forward with clunky dialogue that reaches its wittiest when comparing Melbourne and Albert’s beguiling of Victoria to chess, a metaphor no less subtle than that of the mirror as representation of forced introspection.
Further detracting from success and impact is Vallee’s tendency to cut away before the emotional vitality of a scene takes aim, leaving each formal shot to capture the dialogue and facts without any sort of resonance. It’s pretty to look at and commendable for this lack of romanticized palette, but is perhaps inappropriate, given that the film is essentially that of self-discovery and internal conflict.
Beautiful costuming, impeccable art direction and a patronizing narrative
There are those, however, who will appreciate being told how to feel at every turn, with villains clearly distinguished as dog-kicking monsters, as mealy exposition with broad headlines fills in the blanks. In this capacity, The Young Victoria succeeds on every front.
Michael Sheen shines as famed coach Brian Clough
To understand the experience of watching The Damned United without actually doing so, one need look no further than the pedigree associated with it, as screenwriter Peter Morgan has a history of making minor historical moments cinematic and profound, playing with willful, controversial figures and providing them brief humanity and folly in turning points. Anyone familiar with The Queen, The Last King of Scotland and Frost/Nixon will be familiar with this trajectory. By throwing director Tom Hooper (John Adams) into the mix, we get a dry, technically proficient and sturdy vision for Morgan’s shtick to work within, giving cocksure soccer coach Brian Clough, played impeccably by Michael Sheen in the film, a little humanity amidst his borderline sociopathic actions. And while this performance impresses, the historical aesthetics and props prove authentic and we get a broad roundabout psychology, we never understand how Brian Clough was a good coach, or what exactly he needed his assistant for. We are provided with an abundance of historical facts but never a clarification as to how or why, leaving the film to be a flowing examination of Clough and Sheen’s portrayal of him during his seemingly incidental successes with Derby County, failure with Leeds and his hatred of another team manager.
