Film Review: "Victoria & Abdul" (2017).

"An extraordinary true story of a queen and her new best friend." This is Victoria & Abdul. This biographical comedy-drama directed by Stephen Frears, written by Lee Hall, and based on the book of same name by Shrabani Basu. Abdul Karim, a young prison clerk from India, travels to present Queen Victoria with a mohur on her Golden Jubilee and strikes an unlikely friendship with her.

In mid June 2016, a biographical comedy drama film based on Basu's book of the same name, penned by Hall, with Frears set to direct and Judi Dench set to star as Queen Victoria, was announced. By mid September, Ali Fazal, Tim Pigott-Smith, Eddie Izzard, Adeel Akhtar, Michael Gambon, Paul Higgins, Olivia Williams, and Simon Callow rounded out the film's cast. The film would mark Pigott-Smith's final screen role. He died before the film was released. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late November. Filming took place in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Leicestershire, London, North Yorkshire, and Surrey, England, as well as Aberdeenshire and Highland, Scotland, and Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, India.

The film stars Dench, Fazal, Pigott-Smith, Izzard, Akhtar, Gambon, Higgins, Williams, and Callow. Dench's performance in this film continues to cement her status as one of the best actors working today. Fazal is simply mesmerizing, as is the rest of the talented cast who bring to life this fascinating footnote in British history. Dench is a joy as the tender yet sardonic Queen Victoria, and Fazal is both heart-rending and remarkably funny in his best ever role. It's all done so expertly.

While there is mild mounting tension, the crux of the film rests on a mere speech recital which is in itself largely anticlimactic. This Oscar-bait tour de force should leave you laughing, and perhaps shedding a tear for a very human monarch. A strong and respectable drama that is anything but revolutionary, but admirably tells its story with dignity and grace. The film lingers in the mind and the emotions long after it ends, communicating to us in the spirit of Victoria's life. What's so interesting about watching a British monarch being friends with an Indian prison clerk? As it turns out, plenty. Frears had the ability to masterfully orchestrate the different elements of the film, especially the multi-star cast. Of course, the film has its sentimental touches, but the film goes further. It's a fable about friendship, or rather, about loneliness that can be felt by even the most important person in an Empire. The spectator never doubts the good heart and soul of the British monarch or the courage of the prison clerk who will become an unlikely friend of the queen. Hall, who wrote the screenplay, clearly did his homework, and the script is rich with dialogue uttered by the royal prototypes. Though he takes artistic license with certain facts, most such liberties are acceptable. Overall, this film is a great piece of British cinema that boasts an exciting group of British talents, including Dench.

Simon says Victoria & Abdul receives:

Also, see my review for Florence Foster Jenkins.