The second film that Jordan & I decided to take in while we were in Atlanta was "The Young Victoria" starring Emily Blunt as the young Queen Victoria. Hmmmmmmm... a period piece. A period piece, of slightly independent roots, wholly filmed and released initially in England? Not wonderful yet... One would think, right?! One would be incorrect.
I cannot even begin to discuss this film without speaking to the tour de force performance given by Emily Blunt. She was this films one and only star. And, not speaking in terms of notoriety, but she was the film. All the other actors simply paled in comparison to her performance.
The direction and cinematography of this film did leave a lot to be desired. I kept hoping for more grandeur when viewing the palacial scenes or views of the royal court. While I do believe they were probably more accurate in those depictions, I wanted to see royal pageantry. Whatever happened to artistic license? At times, one might have mistaken it for a PBS teleplay or documentary.
Lest, we forget Ms. Blunt and the supporting cast who wholly made up for any lacking in the arenas of direction and cinematography.
The writers and director (Jean Marc Vallee) did a very good job with accuracy of information and really did lean to written history. This only enhanced the film as well as the individual performance played out on the screen.
The film did an amazing job of depicting the Queen's early life and did it without the tawdry, fantastical boredom of so many other period films. There are some amazingly powerful scenes in it.
For example, there is a scene where the young Queen berates her mother, the Duchess, for her insolence and willingness to allow her to be abused by Sir Jon Conroy. Another powerful scene is one where the young Queen addresses what she believes is an egregious slight by her husband, Prince Albert.
Overall, the direction was good. The acting was quite superb and the accuracy of the film was astonishing. It's definitely a thumbs up in my book and I would quite quickly sit down to watch it again.
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