Film: The Young Victoria
Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Single Sentence Summary: A beautiful yet dreadfully sloppy portrait of the burgeoning Queen Victoria hampered by a severe lack of focus and only somewhat redeemed by Emily Blunt's mostly delightful interpretation of the title character.
Five Adjectives: Decadent, flat, messy, derivative, inane
Most Memorable Moment: If you would believe it, I can't think of a single moment in this film that rose above the persistent mundane complacency. If I were to pick something though, I'd have to go with a certain carriage ride taken by Victoria and her husband Prince Albert that unexpectedly gets cut short with a bang. I'll give no more details than that, other than to say it manages to, even if entirely manipulated, inject a sense of urgency and excitement into this mostly flaccid affair.
Biggest Surprise: Even the overwhelming mediocrity came as no surprise (the film had been in post-production and then shelved for eons), so I have little to say here, and any surprise I did encounter was more of a surprising disappointment. Were I to fish for some form of positive concession, I would say that despite an overall middling presentation, the film does maintain a solid artistic presence that is at times almost breathtaking.
Biggest Disappointment: The story feels uninvolved and rather superfluous. We are shown some of the outward effects of Victoria's rise to power but are given little insight into the young Queen's personal upheaval. What's more, the conflicts actually depicted in the film are banal at best. Scenes of mostly exposition allude to more pressing problems of the time (indeed, there were many!), but they are consistently passed over for trivial and cursory palatial matters.
Best Performance: No performance in this film was entirely praiseworthy, though it is without question that Emily Blunt as the young Queen herself prevents this ship from completely sinking. While the script affords her little space to explore her personage, she manages to bring a delightful sense of charm and enjoyment to the role. She is not entirely successful in her portrayal, giggling in excess and occasionally overstating her presence, but she is able to transcend the cardboard cutout design of the character.
Worst Performance: Miranda Richardson offers a bromidic and very disappointing interpretation of Victoria's mother the Duchess of Kent. She remains on the sidelines for the majority of the film, scarcely speaking or providing emotional context of any sort, though even in her few moments at stage center, Richardson is lifeless and awkwardly restrained.
Hidden Gem: Amongst the prevailing poor choices in direction, there are a few interesting and even exciting shot designs that hint at a unique artistic perspective never fully explored. For instance, one shot rapidly racks focus along a row of champagne glasses at the edge of a long table, taking us from one end to the other at delightfully dizzying speed. Another shot depicts a weightless Victoria floating across the ballroom floor in a hallucinatory daze to meet her love Prince Albert on the other side. Because these moments are seldom and clash with the more standard renderings of the rest of the film, the result feels more inconsistent than inspiring. It's as if halfway through shooting, director Vallée decided to start experimenting.
The Best: If anything in this film is done right, it is among the physical production values: that is, the costume design, hair and makeup, and art direction. Not once does the environment feel anachronistic or modern in any way, providing an experience that is at least transportive. The set designs are often awe-inspiring, and the costumes especially are exquisite. Oscar attention later this year for these artistic merits seems entirely possible.
The Worst: The script, penned by Oscar-winning (!) screenwriter Julian Fellowes, is truly a poor excuse for storytelling. There is virtually no character development, the plot is paper thin, any conflict feels frivolous and tiresome, the dialogue is prosaic and sickeningly clichéd, and the story feels terribly misguided without any clear sense of direction or purpose. There isn't a single trace here of the subtle brilliance or wonderously clever construction seen in Fellowes' Academy-approved work for Gosford Park. Indeed, the text for this film is what one might expect from a machine or computer program built to generate a script from a given set of conditions. You've got historical biopic contrivances a-plenty without any sort of humanistic touch. The result feels lifeless, uninteresting, and sadly, irrelevant.
Final Thoughts: It is clear that The Young Victoria was built with prestige and award recognition in mind, and with a much stronger foundation, these aspirations could have been achieved. Both the cast and crew are obviously talented, but their accomplishments are diluted thanks to the wiry thin story at the film's core. This is what you get when you try to make an Oscar-worthy movie with a Razzie-worthy script: dazzling superficiality. It's a real shame too. Queen Victoria is one of history's most interesting figures and definitely has a story to tell. This, however, is not it.
GRADES
Direction: C-
Script & Story: F
Acting: C
Sights & Sounds: B+
FINAL GRADE: D+
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