• “A Serious Man,” a glossary. [Focus Features]
• Peter Knegt writes up 10 things the fall fests could tell us about the awards season. [indieWIRE]
• Julian Fellowes talks Robert Altman eight years after “Gosford Park,” bringing back memories (old school Oscar Central readers know). [The Wrap]
Somewhere out there, wherever such souls reside, Anne of Great Britain must be wondering what she had to do during her reign to merit her own prettily mounted biopic. She may be the last relatively untapped figure in British heritage cinema’s well-worn library of queenly narratives, but she has once more been passed over for the privilege of fronting the latest middlebrow, true-life royal drama, fast becoming an annual fixture on the UK film calendar.
Instead, the powers that be (noting with reluctance that the lives of both Elizabeths have been sufficiently plundered of late) have returned to that old stalwart, Queen Victoria, for inspiration. Marginal inspiration, at that –- that “young” inserted in the title is intended as the film’s creative and commercial trump card, promising a sprightlier, sexier take on the figure more frequently depicted in her latter years as a stern, cabbage-faced matron.
Indeed, from the sly casting of impish Emily Blunt in the title role to the Easter-egg hues of Sandy Powell’s typically immaculate frocks, Jean-Marc Vallee’s film works overtime to convince us that the 18-year-old Victoria could be very amused indeed: as Blunt barely suppresses laughter at a stiff royal function, or skips down a corridor after being informed of her impending coronation, she effectively severs any connection or comparison with Judi Dench’s Oscar-nominated interpretation of the role in “Mrs Brown.”
Meanwhile, in depicting its subject as a modern woman suffocated by her surroundings and dated gender trappings, complete with adorable lapdog and an accent that is decidedly more Sloane Square circa 2009 than House of Hanover circa 1837, the film pulls a similar trick of characterization to last year’s “The Duchess.” Working, however, in an even softer register than that already lightweight film, “The Young Victoria” plays down court intrigue in favor of dewy-eyed first love; if “Elizabeth’s” populist coup was restyling royal history as political thriller, this lands squarely in rom-com territory, with Rupert Friend’s Prince Albert the dreamy yet ever-deferred suitor.
A lavishly mounted biopic of the eponymous British monarch that boasts Martin Scorsese among its producers, “The Young Victoria” seemed primed for Oscar consideration last year. Sandy Powell’s typically elaborate costumes were an apparent shoo-in, and some pundits had star-in-waiting Emily Blunt as a dark horse on their Best Actress lists — until the film was unceremoniously yanked from the 2008 schedule.
Now, ahead of its UK release on March 6, the Telegraph offers an extensive profile of the film, declaring it “a vibrant celebration of a joyous and passionate Queen.” The film certainly has an interesting pedigree, pairing a quintessentially British writer (Julian Fellowes of “Gosford Park” fame) with a very adventurous choice of director, French-Canadian auteur Jean-Marc Vallée. Vallée’s last film, the funky gay-oriented family drama “C.R.A.Z.Y.,” has become something of a cult item, so it’ll be interesting to see what he brings to the table here.
The cast, as you would expect, is mighty impressive, with Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Mark Strong and Rupert Friend (soon to be seen in “Chéri”) supporting Blunt, whose lead turn Fellowes describes as “one of those wonderful meetings of part and actress that doesn’t happen very often.” The trailer below is, I think, a little dourly cut, but with the level of talent involved, this could be one to watch.
When interviewing Kristin Scott Thomas, the woman who for many audiences represents the living portrait of English upper-crust serenity, Led Zeppelin isn’t exactly the first name you expect to crop up in the conversation. And yet, halfway through our Transatlantic chat, that is exactly what happens.
“Seeing the guys, well into their sixties, just getting up on stage and doing their thing … it’s just so inspiring,” she says, referring to the British rock gods’ reunion concert that took place in London a year ago. “And spanning generations too — my son is into them. It’s a reminder that you don’t stop being interesting or relevant at a certain age. I’d love to do that.”
As entertaining as the idea of Thomas belting out “Whole Lotta Love” to a screaming arena of thousands is, it’s a weirdly apt comparison. Where many actresses her age recede (albeit not usually by choice) into mumsy bit parts and dreary disease-of-the-week movies, Scott Thomas, now (incredibly) 48, has recently been taking on the most challenging, intriguing work of her career to date.
As if to prove the point, she is speaking from New York, where she is tackling one of the theater’s greatest female roles in her first ever Broadway gig. Her witty, ferocious interpretation of Arkadina in Chekhov’s “The Seagull” earned her an Olivier Award for the play’s original London incarnation and is now garnering breathless raves Stateside.
It’s her recent film work, however, that has made 2008 a banner year for the thesp. Two highly entertaining, highly contrasting supporting roles — as a worldly lesbian in the smash French thriller “Tell No One” and an icy matriarch in period comedy “Easy Virtue” — are mere appetizers to her staggering, career-peak performance as an introverted, grief-ridden ex-con, reconnecting with family and society alike, in Philippe Claudel’s superb debut feature “I’ve Loved You So Long.”