My offical review of the film The Young Victoria
(This is a short review. I may enlarge it later).
I can't think of a film about British royalty that I haven't liked. The topic is a source of endless drama and history, and any movie that deals with this topic is a goldmine for stories of passion and intrigue while at the same time being educational. Who could ask for more in a story?
The reign of Queen Victoria has been dealt with in films many times before. The last one I saw was "Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown" which dealt with her later years as a widow, and her lover, a loud, boisterous Scottish man whom she never married. But this film covers the beginning of her life, as a young woman and her marriage to the German Prince Albert. I found this a fascinating story.
Victoria was raised in a sheltered life, like a bird in a cage, totally hidden from the real world. But she overcame this as she came of age, and she learned the chess-like skills of diplomacy as well as any diplomat. Her relationship with Albert was one of true, sincere love, and the film very skillfully interweaves the stories of her political life and her love life with passion and grace. I learned some historical details I was only vaguely aware of before, and I found her emotional life to be pure yet real, and not naive.
I recommend this film to anyone interested in learning history as told through the emotional life of those who lived it, rather than the broader details, as in a documentary. I would see it again.