The Young Victoria
UK | 2009 | Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent

Guest Review by Emily Eisen

I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t go see The Young Victoria in large part for the costumes, the love story, and the royal drama. But the film succeeds beyond the typical period romance or historical reenactment in two ways: it creates natural suspense and tension in a chain of events to which most of us already know the ending, and the historical characters seem like real, identifiable people without cheapening the sense of historical place or customs of behavior.  (Unlike, say, Kiera Knightly’s star turn in Pride and Prejudice…)  These successes stem in large part from Emily Blunt’s studied portrayal of the Queen; she uses changes in posture and an oddly awkward toothy grin to create Victoria as a person growing up under the most intense of circumstances. I came away from the film with a picture of this period of British royal history explored, but not exploited. With Rupert Friend as the quietly endearing Prince Albert and Jim Broadbent stealing a few scenes as a wildly fun King William.