Victoria and Abdul review: Stephen Frears directs this period drama about the relationship between Queen Victoria and young Indian clerk Abdul.
Victoria and Abdul review by Luke Ryan Baldock.
Judi Dench returns to the role of Queen Victoria that saw her bag a number of gold statues 20 years ago in Mrs Brown. Victoria & Abdul also wants to remind us of that far superior film, given the number of references made to Victoria’s relationship with John Brown. At one point the titular Abdul (Ali Fazal) is even referred to as ‘the brown John Brown’, perhaps an alternative title for the project, but one that would have been far too challenging and ambitious for such a quaint and meandering feature.
Victoria & Abdul is, of course, a lovely film with a valuable message and good performances, but its absolute lack of ambition somewhat conflicts with the arcs and personalities of the main characters. Dench is a sad and tired Queen Victoria, having to be dressed, propped up, and kept awake at functions she can’t stand. Enter into one of these functions the tall and handsome Abdul, who breaks from convention by making eye-contact with the monarch during the presentation of a ceremonial coin. His charm and enthusiasm soon open up the heart of the queen, who begins to learn Urdu and the lessons of the Koran under the tutelage of Abdul, much to the dismay of the rest of the royal household.
You should be able to guess exactly how this film plays out, and it won’t be throwing in any surprises. Worst offender is surely the obvious humour which employs culture clash basics including the Indian characters calling Brits barbarians for using gelatin in jelly, and a cavalcade of British thespians doing their best shocked faces and stuttering mumbles whenever Abdul does something against the norm. Eddie Izzard – looking hauntingly like a bemused Orson Welles – gets the most repetitive role as he proclaims “What the bloody hell,” enough times to inspire a drinking game. The jokes are dated and lack any biting satire that could make it relevant to our current divided Western world on the idea of Muslim integration. It’s inoffensive and far too safe.
Related: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel review.
It’s a shame really, as director Stephen Frears is best when handling difficult subjects or films with more personality, such as High Fidelity and Dirty Pretty Things. Victoria & Abdul is such a paint-by-numbers affair that anybody could have made it, that it could be made for cinema or television, that any number of Brits could have filled out the roles. The fact the darker moments of Britain’s oppression of India are just mentioned in fleeting conversations (with only one holding any power or emotion) just about sums up how careful the film wants to be. It’s a film for elder relatives still bemused by foreign customs.
There are also simple blips in film-making too, such as a character greeting another before they have entered the room. When such moments are the most interestingly shot and edited sections, you know you’re in for a flavourless affair. If the likes of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Hundred-Foot Journey didn’t quite subdue your need for inoffensive and charming culture clash comedy between the UK and India, this may hold some value, but the superior (though still dry and flawed) Viceroy’s House, from earlier this year, covered similar themes with more confidence. Such predictable humour also highlights the poor transition between tonal shifts that see diseases enter the story, and characters turn from bumbling antagonists to fully fledged villains.
Victoria and Abdul review by Luke Ryan Baldock, September 2017.
Victoria and Abdul is released in UK cinemas on Friday 15th September, 2017.
