VICTORIA AND ABDUL – Review

Judi Dench (left) stars as Queen Victoria and Ali Fazal (right) stars as Abdul Karim in
director Stephen Frears’ VICTORIA AND ABDUL, a Focus Features release. Photo credit: Peter Mountain / Focus Features ©

Director Stephen Frears’ funny, charming VICTORIA AND ABDUL was inspired by a real event late in the life of Queen Victoria, when the aging British monarch had her mood brighten by the arrival of a visitor from India, much to the dismay of her advisers and her son, the crown prince. Judi Dench gives a brave and bitingly funny performance as the elderly Queen Victoria, which feels a bit like a kind of sequel to her role as the same queen earlier in life in 1997’s MRS. BROWN. Frears’ handsome historical comedy/drama has a script written by Lee Hall, who penned BILLY ELLIOT, and is based on journalist Shrabani Basu’s “Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant.”

In 1887, Queen Victoria (Dench) is celebrating her Golden Jubilee. After 50 years on the British throne, the queen’s life on a personal level has become a depressing routine, with formal lunches and dinners for hundreds of aristocrats and state formalities which she endures rather than enjoys. Long widowed and disappointed with her children, the lonely queen overeats and has little to look forward to each morning. She would probably like to just sleep in but an army of servants and courtiers ensure that never happens. After all, she is the queen.

However, one particular formal lunch includes the arrival of a pair of exotically dressed Indian men, who are there to present a commemorative coin as a gift from the Indian people for her Golden Jubilee. As everyone bows with eyes cast down, the monarch looks at the tall handsome young Indian presenting the gift. He has been instructed to never look at the queen but, against all protocol, he looks her in the eye, and smiles. Worse, he impulsively kissed her feet. She is immediately charmed as well as curious.

Once Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal) catches the queen’s eye, she maneuvers to have him at her side and peppers him with questions about India, a part of her empire she had never visited. He dazzles her with glowing, poetic descriptions of his homeland which spark her imagination. He dazzled her with his glowing descriptions. and again breaking protocol, politely corrected her misconceptions about his homeland. When she assumed he was Hindu, he gently told her he was Muslim and told her there were many religions in India. When she asked him to teach her Hindi, he suggested instead he teach her Urdu, because it was a “noble language” more suitable for a queen.

With his warmth, naturalness, and infectious enthusiasm, an unexpected friendship quickly grows between them and Abdul quickly advances from footman to “spiritual adviser,” much to the dismay of the queen’s inner staff and especially her son Bertie (Eddie Izzard), the future King Edward VII. Among the officials alarmed by the situation are Lady Churchill (Olivia Williams), Lord Salisbury (Michael Gambon), and Sir Henry Ponsonby (Tim Pigott-Smith).

Fazal makes Abdul’s genuine fondness for Victoria is apparent, alternating between a beguiling romantic flirtation and the adoring innocence of a child. He takes a child-like joy in teaching her about India and, like a child carried away with his own dreams, his glowing tales include fantasy embellishments about his own family. Back in India, Abdul is a lowly clerk who records the names of those in prison but when he describes his work to the queen he is transformed into a respected “writer,” which she takes to mean a poet or novelist. He does not mean to deceive so much as bask in the fantasy himself, along with his kindly royal friend. She rewards him with servants, plush quarters and rich clothes, fulfilling his fantasies.

There is a lot of laugh-out-loud absurdity in this situation but there is also real human warmth between the queen and her new confident, which adds a special dimension of a young person bringing joy and brightness to the life of the elderly queen, the kind of delight grandchildren usually bring. Abdul seems clueless about the rules of proper behavior that everyone else around her observes, so Victoria can relax and just be human with him, a luxury she lacks. At times, Abdul is like a bubbly child, at others he is like a flirtatious young man, both of which boost the queen’s spirits, but he also serves to help her travel to far-off India in her mind and to be a sympathetic ear to her troubles. The friendship between the elderly queen and this outsider precipitates panic among the palace inner circle and threatens to become a political crisis.

Basu’s book was based on diaries and journals of both Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim, although the friendship was covered-up and kept secret for decades after the queen’s death. In the film, director Frears uses the unlikely friendship between Victoria and Abdul to satirically explore issues of race, class, religion, culture, and colonialism, mocking the latter and drawing attention to absurdities and injustices.

This isn’t the first film in which a young man arrives to charm and brightening the life of an older woman, that also has a bit of romantic fantasy mixed with a grandmotherly affection. The fact that this is the queen herself in the famously sexually repressive Victorian era offers extra titillation. But Frears only gently toys with, alluding to the subject of MRS. BROWN, in which Dench also starred as Queen Victoria in another romantic flirtation, and generally just leaves it at looks and tone of voice between Dench and Fazal.

Judi Dench is fearless and amazing in her role as Queen Victoria. Dench allows the camera to linger on every wrinkle and even the bit of food on her chin, as the depressed queen greedily hurries through her formal luncheon, inconsiderately slurping her soup so quickly that guests hardly taste it before bowls are removed as protocol requires. When Abdul’s bright smile and enthusiasm catch her attention, Dench spotlights the queen’s curiosity and suddenly renewed interest in life, as well as her hunger for a real human connection denied her in her strictly formal life. Dench’s Victoria also shows a mischievous enjoyment sparked by goading the religious prejudice, class-ism and racism that grip her inner circle as they grow alarmed over her attentions to Abdul.

The prejudices and hatreds at play are embodied by Michael Gambon’s indignant Lord Salisbury, Olivia Williams’ disdainful Lady Churchill and Eddie Izzard’s sputtering Bertie in particular, who conspire to rid the household of Abdul’s inconvenient presence. The subject of an inappropriate romantic attraction is addressed much less than their racial, religious and class outrage.

The real Abdul Karim may have been a rogue and a bit of a con man but as Bollywood star Ali Fazal plays him he is a sweetly boyish charmer, which works much better for this film. While Fazal creates a likable dreamer and we easily see his appeal for the lonely Victoria, Abdul’s motives and inner thoughts remains opaque. Frear never really lets us inside the head of this character, although we do see his affection and real friendship for the queen. Abdul’s enjoyment at living a fantasy life as a nobleman is clear but his reasoning behind some of his deceits is murky. He spins a tale of his noble educated family when in fact they are poor and uneducated but it is unclear if he is trying to convince the queen they are social equals or just fantasizing out loud about what he wishes was true.

While always-positive Abdul is enthusiastic about being in England, his companion and fellow countryman Mohammed (Adeel Akhtar) in not. The original plan was to send a pair of tall Indian men to make the presentation to the queen together, but a last-minute problem meant the short, dour Mohammed was pressed into service instead. The change put Abdul Karim front and center before the queen, with his fellow countryman as a sort of supporting player. As Abdul ascends, Mohammad is reduced to being his servant.

Akhtar provides a pleasantly comic downbeat character to Abdul’s unrelenting sunniness, but also provides the film’s most pointed commentary on colonialism and cultural prejudice. Akhtar’s Mohammed dislikes all things British, describes their food as “completely barbaric,” and longs to go home. He serves as the voice of reality to Abdul’s dream world. While Abdul basks in his elevated position, Mohammed knows its all fantasy, and Indians are suffering at home under British colonial rule.

Cinematographer Danny Cohen (THE KING’S SPEECH) makes sure the film is visually beautiful and lavish, making good use of the wonderful locations, sets and costumes. As gorgeous as the film is, it is still Dench’s performance that really rivets.

VICTORIA AND ABDUL seems certain to snag another Oscar nomination for Judi Dench, in this funny, winning historic film.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars