Review of The Young Victoria (2009) by Megan W — 04 Jun 2010

What a gorgeously shot film that not only delves into the history of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's monarchy, it also adds a certain sense of humor and realism to a film genre that mostly plays to those who only want to see romance.

Emily Blunt is a very underrated actresses today, not to mention being stunningly beautiful. And having never seen a film with Rupert Friend before, I was impressed with his performance as well. Now, I know this argument could be made for many different types of actors and films, but I'm incredibly glad that the entire main cast was British. After seeing what a disaster Anne Hathaway was in "Becoming Jane" with her accent, I needed to believe that these characters were really from 1850's England.

The thing that made this film stood apart from all other British historical/literary adaptations was the reason I didn't want to watch this film: the love story. Most films single out the heroine and one man and, throughout the story, force you to believe that they belong together. The friendship, the courtship, then the marriage of Victoria and Rupert was not only believable, it was beautiful.

This movie was fantastic, and kept me interested until the end. I highly recommend it to all who a) love history, and/or b) love high-caliber filmmaking.