If anything else, The Young Victoria offers us a unique look at the life of the longest reigning monarch in the history of the Britains by focusing on her, well, youth. An interesting place from which to launch a film from, but the thing of it is, aside from the acting and the production design I’m not sure what separates The Young Victoria from several other great king/queen-in-the-making stories. But as a devoted monarchist, I have to admit that though as unoriginal as the story’s conceit may be, despite the fact that it was based on real life, there is something truly compelling in this film by C.R.A.Z.Y. director Jean-Marc Vallée from a script by Academy Award winner for Gosford Park,
Julian Fellowes.

The film’s story begins in 1836. The future queen is 17 and, unbeknownst to her, is about year away from ascending to the throne. Young and headstrong, the Princess Victoria (played by Emily Blunt) refuses to sign papers that would allow her mother the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson), and through her Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong), to rule in Victoria’s stead once the King dies. But when King William (Jim Broadbent) does pass on, Victoria eagerly accepts her calling and takes the throne. Despite her new found power though, Victoria finds herself being pulled by all sides to work for their political benefit, not the least of which is her chief advisor, Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany). At the same time, Victoria contemplates marriage with Prince Albert (Rupert Friend), son of the Belgium’s King Leopold (Thomas Kretschmann), who’s pushing for the union to strengthen his own position.

What’s strange is that despite all this going on it’s almost as if the film just scraped the surface of this woman’s life. Perhaps that’s the consequence of being Queen for over 75 years, but in its way, just as the movie feels like its at the place where the story really begins, it comes to end. The blanks are filled in with a rather odious number of title cards at the end, so many that it almost felt like there was going to be a pop quiz on Queen Victoria before leaving the theatre. On the other hand, the script goes into a lot of detail about those tumultuous first few years with all the political slights and negative reaction from the people. Who knew that the decisions over who’s made a lady of the Queen’s court could be as divisive as choosing a Supreme Court Justice?

Actually, the script does a good job of laying out these minor controversies and how they became blown out of proportion in a politically sensitive time. Vallée, for the most part, is able to build appropriate tension and intrigue as the young queen is pushed and pulled between all the various forces involved. This is also where Blunt gets to shine. She manages to convey Victoria’s strength and defiance while still allowing instances of vulnerability and self-doubt. Under a lesser actress those qualities might have all been played too broadly to be believed or to be taken seriously, but Blunt finds a nice balance and is able to engender a lot empathy and pathos. I wish the same could be said for Friend’s Prince Albert though because while the advertising pushes their great love as a plot point, in the actual film it seems more like an after thought.

What’s weird is that the film still tries mightily to make the romantic storyline relevant. Naturally you can’t ignore it, but the meticulousness of all the political issues is no match for the rather simplistic romance where, as portrayed in the film, saw Albert hang around the palace just long enough so that he definitely stood out as the most committed of all marriageable options. In other words, he was there. Blunt and Friend are cute together though, which may be all you need to get by so far as the romantic subplot goes. Meanwhile, the detail and vision of this relatively brief period in Victoria’s life seems ready made for something more like a TV miniseries rather than a limiting two hour movie. Having said that though, there is a spell to The Young Victoria that has a pleasing effect. The film may not be original, but it is wholly enjoyable regardless.