Review of Young Victoria, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

As of late, I’ve been really catching up on my reading, watching, and blog content. If you’re new here and are stopping by this site for the first time, then welcome!

My name is Ashley and I use this website as a form of a digital diary; recently, an opportunity I expected didn’t work out for me, so when I found this out, I decided to take a sabbatical from life (aka: funemployment) and work on the blog. So if you like what you’re reading here, feel free to check out the rest of my content.

That said, as I mentioned, I’m funemployed and watching a lot of movies lately. My goal has been to diversify the kind of content I consume. Once I made a television and movie index for this website, I realized I watch a lot of the same kind of movies and shows, and I wanted to change that.

So my recent favorite game has just been to open up one of my many streaming platforms and watching whatever tickles my fancy. If it’s a corny Christmas movie, or even something way outside of my comfort zone, I’ll watch it if I’m feeling in the mood at the time.

That’s how I ended up watching Young Victoria. While I know a lot about colonial British history during this time and about Queen Victoria herself, I was curious about how she was going to be portrayed on the screen. I pressed play, sat back, and watched it over the course of two days.

Let’s get into the review—I don’t want to bore you with the semantics of an introduction!

The story of Victoria before she became one of England’s biggest modern rulers.

As you’ve probably gathered from the title alone, this is a movie about Queen Victoria before she was the Queen of England. She’s the heir in the beginning of the movie, and there are people looking to try and get her favor before she becomes the queen. As we all can assume, court politics are something that can be pretty wild to read about and witness.

But in this case, there are two people trying to get onto her good side. One of them is her own mother and Sir John Conroy, who even gets her to try and sign some papers giving them power before she gets to the throne. The other side is Leopold of Belgium, who wants his nephew Albert to marry Victoria.

And so Albert is essentially groomed to marry her; he’s trained in everything that she could possibly like, and when it comes time to be invited to visit, both Victoria and Albert end up actually liking each other. She’s kind of aware that he was sent to basically seduce her, but she doesn’t mind it because of how much she likes him in real life.

When it comes time for him to go home, the two agree to continue writing to each other and actually do so. But when Albert leaves, it leads to more problems with the court in England, and Conroy angers Victoria when he gets physical after disagreeing with the king’s decision to increase her income.

Victoria then makes Lord Melbourne her private secretary, and he seizes the moment to appoint a bunch of ladies-in-waiting of his choosing. Naturally, they’re all loyal to him and his family, and not long after this, the king dies. Victoria has just turned eighteen and ascends to the throne.

Now fully independent, Victoria lashes out against her mother by banishing Conroy from the home and even her coronation. She reiterates her dedication to the country, moves in Buckingham Palace, and Albert returns for a visit. As they start getting more intimate during this visit, Victoria pulls back, much to his dismay.

Victoria’s aunt warns her about Melbourne. Sir Robert Peel plots in the wings to replace many of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, but than plan fails and he decides to not help her form a new government, meaning that Melbourne is still in change. This leads to scandal, and Victoria’s reign is off to a rocky start in the public eye.

While this is happening, Victoria writes to Albert, and the two grow closer. She asks him to come to England, and then she proposes to him. They get married, but Albert soon is upset with the fact he’s not the one with some power, and Victoria decides to give him some more tasks. He dismisses Conroy soon after reorganizing the royal’s home.

And if there’s one other good thing about Albert, he sees Melbourne and Leopold’s plans and decides to prevent them from doing so.

This leads to fights between the couple, but when an assassination attempt fails against Victoria and Albert protects her, they reconcile. Soon after, Victoria has their first child, and she makes up with her mother. The movie then ends with explaining the royal couple stayed together until Albert’s death, and Victoria lived for many years after that.

Overall Thoughts

This is a solid romance movie, but it honestly left me wishing for more. It also glosses over the politics and details of Victoria’s actual reign, instead choosing to focus on the rise of her career and romance.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with focusing on this specific period of her life. I see why they chose it; it’s her actions as a queen that most people remember at the end of the day, especially if they learned British history. As a movie, this feels more of a melodrama due to how calm it is, as it moves like a slow river at times.

I’m not mad that I watched this. It just wasn’t my cup of tea at the end of the day, and that’s fine. Emily Blunt is one of the standout performances in the film, that’s for sure, and shows that she had talent early on in her career. She still picks some solid roles even when she’s not in a blockbuster.

Go watch this if you have the chance and want to. I think you may find it worth it!

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