The Young Victoria

The Young Victoria, released in 2008, was a delightful treat; such opulence, dreamlike moments and a pure love story that for me was the most easily relatable than other old royal films made. The use of language was understandable, and although it is still not easy to imagine people living in such affluence in beautiful castles and having an entire court of people wait on them, I find that the way Queen Victoria responded and interacted with everyone to be quite believable and refreshing.

I cannot fib and say I enjoyed Emily Blunt, (Queen Victoria) in her film 'The Wolf Man' when she acted alongside Anthony Hopkins and Benicio del Toro; but then again I cannot say that I enjoyed Hopkins or del Toro's performance either. Nevertheless after seeing The Young Victoria I am pleased to say that Ms. Blunt did a fine job, because it is not only memorizing lines but one can see also the amount of dedication she put into her research of the queen; her body language, posture and grace, are evident in that.

I wonder if I am the only one who mistaken young Rupert Friend, who plays Prince Albert for Orlando Bloom in this film. The similarities are quite uncanny, and his Belgian accent I thought to be quite good; I thought that although he had a small frame, he held his role well and with great strength. I adored the way he loved Queen Victoria, especially when he said: "I would so like to be useful to you…if there is ever an opportunity…" And Victoria knowing this, responded saying, "I know that…but not yet." Such poignant words for me; she did eventually need him, when she'd made a dreadful mess with political decisions, and he never once tried to sway her thinking, instead stood by her and her decisions, and when he felt she wasn't heading the right way, he would gently recommend other avenues for her to take.

I wish that there were at least one full Opera scene, it was revealed that Queen Victoria enjoyed watching Operas and we the audience had glimpses of her attending, but never really was able to get a full taste or get lost in its beauty. Exquisite classical pieces of music were apparent throughout the entire film though, which certainly added to its magnificence.

The wardrobe was divine; obviously, those gowns from the 1800's are lavish and striking in every way. Her darling, Prince Cavalier puppy, named 'Dash', also made many appearances, I do say, a wonderful film to watch; and invigorating in that GK Films, writer Julian Fellowes, and director Jean-Marc Vallee found it worthy to create a film on a part of Victoria's life that many forget about. For even though she died at 82, she was happily married and in love for 20 years before Prince Albert had to leave by death at age 42, suffering from Typhoid Fever. It was said that every day after his death, until hers, she laid out his clothes in the evening.