First, I will say that this is an excellent movie to watch with your husband on your anniversary weekend away from the children. Great story on love. Great period costumes and shots of Buckingham palace.
The problem is that the director (or whoever's in charge of the general tone of a movie) doesn't seem to make up his mind till the end that the movie is going to be primarily a love story and not one of historical politics. Up until the end (which is abrupt and not at all satisfying, despite the tiny, helpful notes on Albert & Victoria's history), we are set up for all kinds of social/political action, from housing for the poor to rearranging the palace machinations to parliamentary upheaval.
But nothing happens. The movie, in that respect, is a complete tease. It runs out of story long before we ran out of interest. There is zero resolution to the historical aspects of Victoria's reign, or even to her relationship with Albert (except for the tiny helpful print detailing their descendents' royalty). All we know, in the end, is that Lord Melbourne's tactical posturings do not prevent Victoria from marrying Prince Albert, and that he condescends to approve of him, rather after the fact.
I want to watch them age, meet their children, see Melbourne ousted, and see Prince Albert come into his own. Show us more than costumes and great architecture. Show us the what the Victorian era was all about.
So, sequel, anyone?
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