The Young Victoria (2009)

This is not just the love story of Vic and Al (Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) but the ultimate coming-of-age tale as the princess matures from petulant child to empowered queen. Luminous Emily Blunt (I wrote about her in Sunshine Cleaning) covers all the emotional and aristocratic bases, and wears most of the magnificent dresses and hats that are likely to garner another Oscar nomination for Sandy Powell (won for Shakespeare in Love (1998) and The Aviator (2004), nominated for The Wings of the Dove (1997) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005), among others). It was nice to see most of the dresses and hats in more than one scene, because it is slightly less wasteful and especially because I liked getting another look. 

Here's some trivia about the movie without spoilers. It mentions that Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (shouldn't she be "former," now that she's divorced from Prince Andrew?), was one of the producers, along with Martin Scorsese, and publishes pictures of Fergie's daughter Beatrice (born in 1988) in a cameo, uncredited, as one of the ladies-in-waiting at her great-great-great-great-grandmother Victoria's coronation. 

Rupert Friend (kind friend to Mrs. Palfrey at the Clarmont, Nazi in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, kept man in Chéri) is adorable as Al, Paul Bettany (friend in A Beautiful Mind (2001), cute tennis player in Wimbledon (2004), psycho in The Da Vinci Code (2006), scary in The Secret Life of Bees) is oily as the "politician" Lord Melbourne, the fabulous Miranda Richardson (Dance with a Stranger (1985), Damage (1992), The Crying Game (1992), Tom & Viv (1994), Spider (2002), The Hours (2002), more) keeps it bottled up as Victoria's mother, Duchess of Kent, and Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Body of Lies, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) is fearsome as the controlling Sir Conroy. 

The locations are lush (certainly Fergie helped get some of them booked) and the photography is, too--take note of the many times focus is pulled; I wish I had counted. Take note, also, of the 19th century version of a mixtape that Al sends to Vic. Sinéad O'Connor performs the haunting closing credits song with more whisper than wail, and then we diehards who remain in the theatre hear only birds chirping. That was new. 

Jack says, yes, it's a chick flick, but eminently watchable (a couple in front of us at the ticket booth was considering Leap Year, and the man groaned loudly when he heard its plot, then said she would owe him Avatar if he had to sit through Leap Year). 

For more about Vic's love life, later in life, do see Mrs. Brown (1997) with Judi Dench and Billy Connolly.