The Young Victoria (2009)

Starring: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Miranda Richardson, Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent, Michael Maloney, Rachael Stirling

Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée

Rating: 1 2 3 4

Emily Blunt as the young Victoria

Brought to us by the unlikely production team of Martin Scorsese and Sarah Ferguson, The Young Victoria (rubbish title I know) tells the story of our longest reigning monarch's early years. Because before the Queen Vic was a dumpy, black-clad figurehead in a mini-crown, she was a passionate young girl who burned with a naïve desire to serve her country well. Before she was Judi Dench, but now she's Emily Blunt, who, with her appealing mix of fresh-faced innocence, pert self-confidence and bloody-minded determination convinces utterly as the sheltered girl propelled onto the throne of a world super power at the tender age of eighteen.

Pushed around all her life like a pawn on a European chessboard by her royal uncles, the kings of England and Belgium, her German mother (the redoubtable Miranda Richardson, taking a break from playing queens to starring as the Queen Mum) and her sinister adviser, Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong, on top smouldering evil form), she's determined to rule on her own terms. But swayed by the urbane charms of her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne (a dangerously smooth Paul Bettany), her reign soon plunges in turmoil. Where's a level-headed, socially concerned, dreamboat of a German prince when you need him?

Emily Blunt as Victoria and Rupert Friend as Albert in The Young Victoria

Ah yes, Albert, played here as if his portrait has come to life by the floppy-haired, chisel-featured Rupert Friend. Because while this gorgeously lavish costume drama may flirt with politics, at heart it's a gloriously unashamed, great big soppy romance that brings a tear to the eye as you remember how darn wonderful it is to be young and in love.

Fair enough, the path of true love doesn't run entirely smoothly, even in this rose-tinted vision of history, and the honeymoon period is over pretty quickly before the pair establish the royal equilibrium that would serve them well for twenty years, before Albert's sadly early death – a sight (and a make-up transformation) we're wisely spared. Instead we're left with a glamorously happy ending that makes you think that Philip Larkin may have been right all along, and that all that will remain of us is love.

We are not amused? On the contrary, we're utterly charmed.

  • Share on Tumblr