KATHMANDU: In a gorgeously filmed biopic Queen Victoria starts moving up to the popular screen Queen Elizabeth I.

In The Young Victoria we meet a girl who goes through all the nuances required

of a coming-of-age-Queen from playfulness to haughtiness and a determination

not to be controlled by shrewd courtiers.

What’s important is that Emily Blunt who plays the young Victoria is a long shot for an Oscar. Even if she doesn’t get it, her name will imprint as an actress with range.

Says Rob James, “Directed by the barely-known Jean-Marc Vallée this lush film sets out to redress our impressions of Victoria as pinch-mouthed by casting svelte Emily Blunt, draping her in a procession of rainbow-hued gowns and spinning her on a royal roundabout of dancing, prancing (on horseback) and furtive glancing (at Rupert Friend’s dishy Prince Albert).

Blunt makes a fine princess, fending off her bossy mother’s (Miranda Richardson) scheming advisor (Mark Strong). And then an urgent, stroppy, young queen. The film is more robust in handling her tentative steps into the quagmire of parliamentary politics. Vallée does a decent job of handling the disparate strands, keeping it clear which bewigged politico is which and shooting it all with elegant flair. Ultimately, the film’s bedrock is Victoria’s burgeoning passion play with Albert, Friend poised to set hearts a-flutter with his compassionate portrayal of the German prince.

Depicting an imperial

love match that spawned nine children, it’s earnest and heartfelt.”

Adds director EA James, “The film takes a look at the year leading up to and first few years of Victoria on the throne of England. It shows the struggles, trials and tribulations of being a lonely child growing up under strict rule to being a young queen on the English throne. The film also takes us into the life of a married monarch. A true love story for the ages, the marriage between Victoria and Albert was arranged prior to their eventual meeting. Their official meeting was scripted, but it was when both dropped the script and began to speak as themselves that the historic romance blossomed. The film is a wonderful depiction of the early life of the queen and predicts her greatness.

It is one of a few films that actually shows the passionate, loving and sexually driven young queen; not the prudish, “we are not amused” old queen we’ve grown to know. My rating for this film stands at a strong four star, and it is recommended that if you are able to let go of the idea of

being historically accurate and allow yourself to enter the imagination of filmmakers you will enjoy The Young Victoria.”

Last word goes to Collin Fraser who says, “In chronicling the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, writer Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park)

wriggles free of the dominating impression of a fusty old woman with an enduring lack of humour. He seeks out a fairy-tale romance with a

pretty, young princess and bolts it to a story of courtly intrigue. If Victoria was anything, she was a modern woman who quickly found a balance between

romantic impulse and those conniving to wrestle her claim on an empire. And all this

before her eighteenth birthday.

Assured direction from Canadian Jean-Marc Vallée (CRAZY) faithfully recreates a golden period when a teenager assumed the British

crown and fell in love with a German prince. Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) magically assumes the role, revealing a vulnerable, burgeoning heart, a cheerful sense of

loyalty and enough back-bone to run an empire — all wrapped up in one break-through performance.”