Word: queen
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...Queen Victoria, in the great beyond, had a say in the matter, you could imagine her waving an imperious hand during the casting process for The Young Victoria, demanding that she be played by "that clever girl from The Devil Wears Prada." And her edict would have been wise, because Emily Blunt is utterly charming in this dramatization of the young Victoria's ascension to the throne and her courtship with Prince Albert...
...Duchess and her "adviser" (in both boudoir and boardroom), the glowering Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong), try to strong-arm Victoria into signing over her power to her mother, just in case King William dies before she turns 18. We want her to be Queen so she can finally say, "Off with his head." Conroy is the film's only outright villain, but he's not really much source of tension: once she's Queen, she's the boss. Nor are Lord M. or Lehzen, even though they try to manipulate the young Queen, because this is primarily a love...
...birthday banquet, quite in his cups, trashing Victoria's mother. It's a funny bit, ending with Richardson huffing off and some dry old man saying, ruefully, "Families." This scene has the mark of something written expressly for Broadbent by Fellowes, but in Lytton Strachey's biography Queen Victoria, and again in Christopher Hibbert's, you'll find that scene, told exactly as it is onscreen. The only difference is that Blunt's Victoria doesn't burst into tears as the real princess apparently did; the movie heroine has more backbone...
...perhaps in deference to the contemporary audience's desire to see Victoria as a Queen shaping her own destiny, the movie tilts the balance of romantic power somewhat, giving us a Victoria gradually won over by Albert's attentions. He grumbles to his brother about the political nature of the courtship ("What do you say about a man who waits for a rich woman?"), but he's soon got the mushy look of a man more than ready to fulfill his duty. The suggestion is that he'll offer her an alliance of equals. Discussing the subject of husbands...
...song’s best for winter,” R&B queen Serena tells her young son in the American Repertory Theater’s “Best of Both Worlds,” the new gospel adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” playing at the Loeb Drama Center through Jan. 3. Unfortunately, such sad songs are just about the only agreeable aspect of the show; to deem anything the “best” in this disappointingly mediocre production would be to issue a gross...