CINEMA: The Young Victoria

The stories of Jane Austen have cornered the market in successful period costume drama and although this view of the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign is firmly based on historical fact, it actually reads like a Jane Austen novel.

Our feisty, intelligent heroine is none other than Victoria herself (Emily Blunt), there’s a dashing hero in Albert (Rupert Friend), an impossible mother (Miranda Richardson), a plotting courtier (Mark Strong), and some wise advisors (Paul Bettany and Michael Maloney).  Victoria must face adversity and setbacks before triumphing over her own wilful nature and settling down to a contented married life.

With a screenplay by Julian Fellowes, the film fairly dashes through courtship, conspiracies, assassination attempts and the political machinations of the time with a light touch and a knowing air, while the movie looks sumptuous from the very first scene (and yes, those costumes are spectacular). But rather than detailing the frivolities of court life, this handsome movie concentrates on the protocol within the court, showing how Victoria deftly handled the constant battle for power between opposing factions (including her own family). At times Emily Blunt looks almost impossibly beautiful, but she handles Victoria’s maturation from ingénue to wise Queen with aplomb in a movie every bit as entertaining as Pride And Prejudice.     Dee Pilgrim