Film Snail

7.2

The Young Victoria

PG·2009·105m

Drama

History

Romance

Drama

History

Romance

Summary

As the only legitimate heir of England's King William, teenage Victoria gets caught up in the political machinations of her own family. Victoria's mother wants her to sign a regency order, while her Belgian uncle schemes to arrange a marriage between the future monarch and Prince Albert, the man who will become the love of her life.

Cast

Emily Blunt

Queen Victoria

Rupert Friend

Prince Albert

Paul Bettany

Lord Melbourne

Miranda Richardson

Duchess of Kent

Jim Broadbent

King William IV

Thomas Kretschmann

King Leopold

Mark Strong

Sir John Conroy

Jesper Christensen

Baron Stockmar

Harriet Walter

Queen Adelaide

Jeanette Hain

Baroness Lehzen

Michiel Huisman

Ernest

Rachael Stirling

Duchess of Sutherland

Julian Glover

Duke of Wellington

Michael Maloney

Sir Robert Peel

Genevieve O'Reilly

Lady Flora Hastings

Morven Christie

Watson

Tom Fisher

Lord Chamberlain

David Horovitch

Sir James Clark

Michaela Brooks

Young Victoria (age 11)

Grace Smith

Young Victoria (age 5)

Shaun Dingwall

Footman

Malcolm Sinclair

Charles Kemble

Josef Altin

Edward Oxford

Bernard Lloyd

Archbishop of Canterbury

David Robb

Whig Member

Tom Brooke

Man on Soap Box

Jo Hartley

Landlady

Rowley Irlam

Footman

Princess Beatrice

Lady in Waiting (uncredited)

John Pirkis

Earl of Derby (as Johnnie Lyne-Perkis)

Crew

Director

Jean-Marc Vallée

Writer

Julian Fellowes

Reviews

Geronimo1967

June 1, 2024

Historically - as far as the cinema is concerned - Queen Victoria was born well into her seventies. Rarely has anyone tried to depict her early years and sadly, this is a rather shallow attempt so to do. Emily Blunt portrays the Queen with some fortitude but the rather soppy performances from Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany don't give us anything like a proper comprehension of the struggle she had, as a (young) woman, to establish herself at the head of an empire riddled with chauvinism, ambition and pomposity. Miranda Richardson as her mother takes up some of the slack in this lacklustre effort with the occasional, wise, contribution from Harriet Walter as the dowager Queen Adelaide welcome too. If it is a love story, then it just about works - anything else is just too far out of reach.