The Young Victoria

I had wanted to see this movie after I'd read a few interviews with Emily Blunt - it was only at Evanston for a while, and then when I looked again at their listings it was GONE and I cursed my own laziness for not going to Evanston sooner. Then, however, I noticed that it had gone into (slightly) wider release and was playing at the Glen, which is not nearly as much of a pain in the ass to get to as Evanston is. Anyway. I took myself to see the film yesterday afternoon and enjoyed it very much - despite the gaggle of geezers sitting behind me. I was in about the 4th row in the theater and had to climb some steps to get there. For some reason, the leader of this geezer pack decided to bring his posse (one of whom was on crutches or a cane or something) up the stairs. It was slow going, it was dark, the previews were starting, and when he tried to guide the poor little lady, she exclaimed "Don't pull on me! I'll slip and fall and that will be the end of me!" Naturally, oh yes, they sat behind me, and made little exclamations throughout the film. The gentleman would typically murmur "MMMHMMM" at various plot points and they'd sometimes ask each other what had just happened (don't know why, really, since they were probably around during Queen Victoria's coronation!)

Whatever. The film was beautiful and concentrated on - you may have guessed - Queen Victoria, when she was, you know, young. Some of the stuff at the beginning was a little hard for me to follow - all that stuff about a Regency and why she was holed up in the castle she lived in (up to HERE with f**ing castles!!) and why she needed people to hold her hand and stuff. I had to turn the history geek within off for a while (I fed her some cookies) - the film essentially told me all I needed to know, but naturally, I can't help wondering. I also wondered stuff like who her firstborn was, and what would have happened if she had gotten killed in the assassination attempt - who would have taken over then? Albert? Leopold? And I always wonder a little about the Parliamentary system. I was in a British history class once in college and the book would say things like "the government dissolved" or something and I was always like "Oh no!" but it never explained what that meant. So when Lord Paul Bettany (don't remember the character's name - Lord M?) lost the Prime Ministership to that other guy (Sir Robert?) but then Sir Bob said that he couldn't form a government when the Queen had no confidence in him - what happened? The other party gets back into power? They choose a new leader? Such things are fascinating to me.

The cast was outstanding - Emily Blunt was fantastico as Victoria and Rupert Friend was dashing and divine as Albert. I liked seeing their love story unfolding. I wonder if there's going to be a film "Victoria" now, like there was "Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth II" or whatever that second one was called. Anyway. Now I have an urge to see "Mrs. Brown" again....