Almost perfect...

Rating: 8/10 (26 April 2010)

This is not a bad film. As a glorified fluff-piece somewhat respectful of historical fact yet conducive to the erotic reveries of well-bred adolescent girls who still believe in Cinderella and Prince Charming, it can't be topped (please see "user ratings" by age and sex). It boasts art direction that can rival any Vincente Minnelli production and I'm really proud, as a native of Quebec, that this project was helmed by a compatriot, Jean-Marc Vallée ("C.R.A.Z.Y."), who gave its story-telling fluidity and believability. The only points I subtract are for the decision to eliminate the Lady Flora Hastings subplot, probably because this real story of "pride and prejudice" (slander against a worthy woman) would have been difficult to justify and integrate into Victoria's proud but saintly persona. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall in the room where the decision was taken, probably for crassly commercial reasons, to sweep the whole downer of an affair under the carpet. Some of that story, however, still makes it into the Deleted Scenes of the DVD. It would ultimately have given the story much more weight and resonance about what people mean when they say "victorian", especially in a script written by the very thorough, witty and erudite Julian Fellowes, one of the last representatives on this planet of the "educated scriptwriter" species. It would have shown Sir John as somewhat less of a villain and Victoria as a bigot falling prey to appearances and gossip. The good news is we can still expect even more interesting work from Vallée and Fellowes.
P.S.: Prince Albert was never shot or grazed during any assassination attempt on young Queen Victoria, although there were several of those. This can be seen as a necessary concession to the present school of European biopics which doesn't conceive history on film without the spilling of some kind of bodily fluid, usually blood.