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Queen
Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named
Abdul Karim.
Director: Stephen
Frears
Writers: Lee Hall
(screenplay by), Shrabani Basu (based on the book by)
Stars: Judi Dench,
Ali Fazal, Tim Pigott-Smith
Summaries
Queen
Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named
Abdul Karim.
—Anonymous
Abdul
Karim (Ali Fazal) arrives from India to participate in Queen Victoria's (Dame
Judi Dench's) golden jubilee. The young clerk is surprised to find favor with
the Queen. As Victoria questions the constrictions of her long-held position,
the two forge an unlikely and devoted alliance that her household and inner
circle try to destroy. As their friendship deepens, the Queen begins to see a
changing world through new eyes, joyfully reclaiming her humanity.
Abdul
Karim (Ali Fazal), a young prison clerk from Agra, British Raj, is instructed
to travel to England for Queen Victoria's (Dame Judi Dench's) Golden Jubilee in
1887 to present her with a Mohur, a gold coin which has been minted as a token
of appreciation from British-ruled India. The Queen, who is lonely and tired of
her fawning courtiers, develops an interest in and later a friendship with
Abdul. She spends time with him alone, and promotes him to become her Munshi.
She asks him to teach her Urdu and the Qur'an. When Victoria discovers that he
is married, she invites his wife and mother-in-law to join him in England. They
arrive wearing black Burqas, to the consternation of the household. While
Victoria treats Abdul as a son, his preferment is resented by her household and
inner circle, including her son Bertie, Prince of Wales (Eddie Izzard) and
Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, The Marquess of Salisbury (Sir Michael
Gambon).
Synopsis
The
year is 1887, the 50th year of Queen Victoria's reign. For her Golden Jubilee
celebration, two random Indian Muslim subjects are chosen to travel to England
and present the Queen (Dame Judi Dench) with a Mohur, a Mughal commemorative
coin. The plan is to have the liveried Indians quickly present the coin to
Victoria at a Windsor Castle banquet and quickly depart for India, but the plans
go horribly awry when Abdul Karim (Ali Faizal), the taller and handsomer of the
two men, catches the Queen's attention. She requests that the two Indians stay
on as footmen for the remainder of the Jubilee. A few weeks turns into 14 years
as Abdul Karim becomes one of Victoria's favorite and most trusted confidants.
He gradually introduces the lonely and jaded Queen to India, its customs and
cuisines, and its social problems under British rule. He also teaches the
curious monarch to read and write in Urdu. In doing so, he attracts the
jealousy and hatred of the Royal Household, particularly Prince Albert (Eddie
Izzard), Victoria's dissolute and idle son and heir to the throne. Individually
and collectively, the household conspires against Karim, but Victoria is
steadfast and obstinate in the face of their antagonism. Karim frequently
accompanies the Queen on her journeys to Osborne House, Balmoral Castle,
Florence, and the French Riviera. Upon Victoria's death in 1901, Albert's
vengeance is swift and merciless. The heartbroken and grieving Abdul Karim is
summarily evicted from his royal cottage along with his wife and family. He is
is put aboard a ship and sent back to India, never to return. All
correspondence between Victoria and Abdul is burned along with anything else
that hints of an intimate relationship between Victoria and Abdul. The
relationship remained a little-known curiosity until the release of the movie
in 2017.
Taglines: History's
most unlikely friendship
Genres: Biography |
Drama | History
Certification
Motion
Picture Rating (MPAA)
Rated
PG-13 for some thematic elements and language
Argentina:Atp Australia:PG
Austria:0 Brazil:10 Canada:PG (Alberta) Canada:PG (British Columbia) Chile:TE
Colombia:T Denmark:7 Finland:S
France:Tous publics
Germany:6 Hong Kong:IIA Hungary:12
India:UA Ireland:PG Italy:T
Japan:G Lithuania:N-13 Malaysia:P13
Mexico:B Netherlands:12 New Zealand:PG Norway:A (2017, cinema rating) Philippines:PG-13 Portugal:M/12
Russia:12+ Singapore:PG Singapore:M18 (Blu-ray) South Africa:10-12 South Africa:13 (re-rating, video) South Korea:12 Spain:T
Sweden:Btl Switzerland:8 United Kingdom:PG United Kingdom:12 (re-rating, video) United States:PG-13 (certificate #51001) Vietnam:C13
User
Reviews
Last
year it was ethnicity that dominated the Oscars and this year it could well be
longevity. I recently predicted that, at the age of 91, Harry Dean Stanton
could be Oscar's oldest ever Best Actor and even now there is every chance he
will be posthumously nominated while Dame Judi, a mere 82, should have no
worries in being a sure-fire contender for her performance as Queen Victoria in
"Victoria & Abdul". It's a part she has already played in
"Mrs. Brown", (losing out to Helen Hunt in "It's As Good as it Gets"),
and to be fair, this is something of a walk in the park for her.
We
are told the movie is 'mostly' based on actual events but I think we have to
take a lot of what we see with a pinch of salt. It's certainly an entertaining
picture, if a little twee and whimsical at times, but there is also a little
more heft to it than meets the eye. As written by Lee Hall and directed by
Stephen Frears this is no mere sentimental, historical romp. It is, of course,
the story of the Queen's friendship, in the years before her death, with her
Indian servant Abdul Karim, (Ali Fazal, an actor new to me), which until
recently was something kept very much under wraps and which was very much
opposed to by the Prime Minister, her son the Prince of Wales and the entire royal
household and Hall makes this another post-Brexit movie, (I have a feeling we
are going to see a lot of post-Brexit movies in the next few years).
What
we have here is a film about racism and about empire and it's quite as relevant
today as it was back in Victoria's time. Not that you have to take it too
seriously; there's a lot of low comedy on display and Frears has assembled an
outstanding cast of British character actors. Eddie Izzard is an obnoxious
future king, the late Tim Piggot-Smith is quite wonderful as the toadying head
of the household, Michael Gambon is the befuddled Prime Minister and Paul
Higgins practically walks off with the picture as the Queen's concerned doctor;
concerned, not with her health, but with the number of Indians about the place.
As a piece of film-making there is, naturally, a large dose of Masterpiece
Theatre on display but that, in itself, isn't such a bad thing. "Victoria
& Abdul" goes down a treat.
Details
Country: UK | USA
Language: Arabic |
English | Urdu | Hindi
Release
Date:
6 October 2017 (USA)
Also Known
As: Victoria
& Abdul
Filming
Locations:
Cairngorms, Highland, Scotland, UK
Box
Office
Budget: $21,000,000
(estimated)
Opening
Weekend USA: $158,845, 24 September 2017
Gross USA: $22,245,070
Cumulative
Worldwide Gross: $66,558,465
Company
Credits
Production
Co: BBC Films,
Cross Street Films, Perfect World Pictures
Technical
Specs
Runtime: 111 min
Sound Mix: Dolby
Digital
Color: Color
Aspect
Ratio:
2.35 : 1
