Product: Victoria & Albert: A Royal Love Affair [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 2.0
Not my favorite
Victoria and Albert was a lukewarm retelling of the lives of Queen Victoria and her consort. The screenwriter chose to portray Prince Albert as uninterested in Victoria and uninterested in politics and only involving himself out of boredom and to help Victoria which was simply not true. Albert was an ambitious man, and worked very hard to be the power behind the throne, and was groomed to do so from a young age. If he didn't love Victoria at the outset, he certainly would never act like he didn't. Albert had few friends in England and his number 1 supporter was his wife. Albert had a Teutonic disregard for women in general, but there are no records to suggest he wasn't in love with her.The actors who played the famous couple were alright, but I felt the chemistry wasn't strong between them, which hampered the believability of the love story. The screenwriter chose to white wash some of the more Victorian attitudes, such as the attitude towards children. (Queen Victoria did not particularly like them, but especially babies), and their attitude towards Bertie (they didn't much care for him either). Victoria was not a good mother. She ignored her children as most Victorian moms did, leaving them to the care of governesses. Albert was somewhat better, even good daddy material for the time period, but he had high standards which his eldest son never met.I felt the dismissal of Victoria's beloved governess made it appear that this was mostly Victoria's idea, when in fact this was Albert's plotting. I think the writers should have worked a bit harder to portray Victoria's courtship and relationship with Albert from the beginning. Victoria's reluctance to wed Albert had much to do with the first impression he made when he came to court (he was ill and vomited, and wore a poorly fitted clothing)... Showing this early encounter might've humanized Albert, and shown how the ugly duckling had become a swan. Instead the about face Albert makes, with the Byron poetry seemed just sort of odd.Eh. I felt this could've been done better. I'd probably have split it up further and focused on their early marriage, their middle years, and Albert's death.