Butler's Cinema Scene

Judi Dench, Ali Fazal

“VICTORIA AND ABDUL”  My rating: B-  

112 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

Dame Judi Dench — who won an Academy Award for portraying one British monarch (Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love”) and was nominated for playing another (Victoria in “Mrs. Brown”) — now goes for the trifecta with “Victoria and Abdul.”

Stephen Frear’s comic costume drama finds Dench once again in the glum mourning clothes of Queen Victoria, this time late in the monarch’s reign.

As you’d expect, this great actress eats up the screen, in the process compensating for a screenplay that isn’t exactly sure what it wants  to say.

This Victoria remains the isolated, lonely widow who in “Mrs. Brown” found companionship (and perhaps chaste romance) with her Scottish gamekeeper.  But now, several years down the road, she’s  getting a bit dotty. Dozing off at state dinners is  standard operating procedure. And she’s a voraciously fast diner, posing a problem for others who are expected to stop chewing when she does.

Victoria’s advisers and hangers on (played by a Who’s Who of Brit thesps like Michael Gambon, Tim Piggot-Smith and Olivia Williams)  are running the show in her intellectual absence. The  Queen’s influence is  limited to picking menus.

Based on a little-known historical incident,“Victoria and Abdul” centers on the arrival in court of Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), one of the Queen’s Indian subjects who prior to this has been a humble clerk in a prison.

Abdul is tapped to represent India at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee not because of his standing but because of his, er, standing — he’s a lanky fellow and clueless British officials reason that a tall man will look better presenting Her Majesty with a rare and precious gold coin from the subcontinent.

What nobody counts on is that the old gal will look into Abdul’s Omar-Sharif eyes and strike up a remarkable friendship, one that revitalizes Victoria’s mental faculties, sharpens her interest in affairs of state and threatens the status quo of the royal household.

The film’s first 30 minutes are experienced through the eyes of Abdul, who is so in awe of British power and pomp that he doesn’t realize that much of British policy is formulated and executed by stiff-necked nincompoops.

This part of the film is both extremely funny and sort of awesome. Abdul and his grousing fellow Indian emissary (the morosely comic Adeel Akhtar) are overwhelmed by their first trip out of India and a sudden immersion in Her Majesty’s household. Indeed, director Frears stages the scenes at court with the sort of breadth and lavish attention to detail that would have made David Lean proud.

At the same time, the machinations of the Queen’s advisers straight out of a high school mean girls scenario. Particularly wonderful is Eddie Izzard as Bertie, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, who simply cannot wait for Mama to keel over so he can get a crack at the world’s biggest job.

Victoria’s new lease on life is superbly realized by Dench, who nails not only the Queen’s eccentricities but the old lady’s joy at having someone, anyone, whom she can treat as an equal and confidant.

Fazil’s Abdul, on the other hand, poses a bit of a problem, with Lee Hall’s screenplay never quite pinning down his personality.

On the one hand Abdul appears absolutely devoted to Her Majesty, tutoring her in Urdu and Indian history, providing a supportive emotional sounding board for this isolated lady.

But we’re as shocked as Victoria to discover that Abdul has left behind in India a wife and son, that he is not a Hindu but a Muslim, and that he is concealing a health problem that reflects poorly on his moral sensibilities.

What’s his game?  Is he truly a selfless servant? Is he in it for the prestige and access to power? And what’s with all the secrets?

The film never addresses those issues. Even more problematical, during the film’s third act Abdul is mostly missing in action as the story centers on the Queen’s power struggle with the despicable Bertie.

Thanks to these shortcomings “Victoria and Abdul” falls well short of greatness…and yet we have a great-ish performance from Dench that keeps us riveted to our seats.

| Robert W. Butler