REVIEW: Victoria and Abdul

Directed by Stephen Frears
2017 Historical Biography
1 hour 52 minutes
From Focus Features

Starring
Judi Dench
Ali Fazal
Eddie Izzard
Tim Pigott-Smith
Adeel Akhtar
Paul Higgins
Michael Gambon
Olivia Williams
Simon Callow



For lovers of Dame Judi Dench (and I count myself among them), here is another chance to enjoy the splendor of this glorious actress.  She never disappoints, does she?  She again plays Queen Victoria so those of you who like stories about British royalty, this will no doubt please you.  We know I don't shy away from biographies so I've had this movie on my radar since first hearing it was being filmed.

That's not only the good news but it's as far as I can extend it.  It's a perfectly fine movie, well-acted and beautifully filmed, but it's nothing to throw open the shutters and rave about.  Conversely, it's not one to rake over the coals either.  It stays quietly in a safe zone, never thrilling, never boring... just kind of there.

For me, I well remember 1997's Mrs. Brown, where not only did Dench play Victoria, but the story line of the queen opening up a close friendship with a commoner is the very same here.  And the problem for this film is that I well remember Mrs. Brown and it is a far more involving movie.  Where Victoria in Mrs. Brown took up with her friend shortly after her beloved Albert's death, this time the focus is on the end of her life.  

As the story opens in 1887, Britain is celebrating a Golden Jubilee, honoring Victoria's 50 years on the throne.  At a feast in a cavernous dining hall the queen is presented with a commemorative coin by two Indian subjects who have been plucked from their homeland for the occasion.  A short, dumpy one resists the entire episode but the tall, thin one, Abdul, seems to be in his element.  Both have been laboriously given the protocol which includes not looking directly at the monarch, gorging herself with food at one end of the long table.  After the presentation Abdul suddenly drops to the floor and kisses her sequined slipper.  Everyone is flush with horror, of course, but not the stern Victoria, who suddenly lightens up.

So begins their friendship.  Of course her family and the royal household are dumbstruck by how easily she mingles with a commoner... and an Indian subject, no less.  How could she?  In time they will question her sanity and ability to rule.  But she is clearly taken with how the fawning Abdul is taken with her, not as a queen but as a woman and a friend.  At first she brings him aboard as her assistant after he helps her with her correspondence.  She is completely taken by everything Muslim.  As he begins teaching her his native language, Urdu, and opens her up to the wonders of the Koran, she tells everyone he is now her teacher.  When she learns his word for teacher is munshi, she calls him that from then on. 

He regales her with tales of the Taj Mahal in his hometown of Agra and to honor it and him she has an ornate Durbar meeting room constructed in her private residence on the Isle of Wight.  The two spend more and more time together as they grow very fond of one another and as she relies on him more and more.

When she decides to bestow a knighthood on him, all hell breaks loose.  Her minions find some dirt on Abdul but the Queen cares not. The best scenes come when Victoria gives others a piece of her formidable mind.

Ali Fazal is handsome (at times he looks like a young Cornel Wilde in those colorful costumes) and earnest but there just isn't a lot he can do opposite the towering Dench, much the same as Abdul isn't on even footing with Victoria.

Eddie Izzard is appropriately smarmy as Bertie, her eldest son, whom she doesn't particularly care for but who will succeed her.  Tim Pigott-Smith, who died shortly after filming was completed, was an eyeful as Victoria's resentful head of household.

To the film's credit, let it be known there is a a fair a amount of humor, which, of course, aids in keeping it from getting too stuffy... if you know what I mean.

Stephen Frears is a top director who knows his way around British monarchs, having guided Helen Mirren to an Oscar in The Queen. (2006). He earlier worked with Dench in Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) and Philomena (2013).  My favorite of all his films is The Grifters (1990).

As the film opens, we are informed it is based on a true story... almost.  No doubt.  It is, however, based on a biography.  

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