THE YOUNG VICTORIA

14 +

Coming to the throne in 1837 at the young age of eighteen, Queen Victoria finds herself in the middle of a chess game of politics and power. Resolutely independent but inexperienced with facing an over-whelming amount of decisions, the young Queen must quickly learn whom can be trusted out of all those clamouring around her.
The film will be screened in English with German subtitles.
The accompanying workshop will introduce the themes of English history and culture, the role of the monarchy, developing independence and self-assertion, family relationships and loyalty, meeting expectations and resisting convention, and gendered roles in society.

UK/USA, director: Jean-Marc Vallée, 2009, Drama

THE YOUNG VICTORIA, the 2010 Oscar winning film for “Best Costume Design”, focuses on the developing relationship between Queen Victoria (Emily Blunt) and the German Prince Albert (Rupert Friend). Despite Victoria’s headstrong character and steadfastness, she has to learn whom she can trust within the political snake nest in which she finds herself. Advisers, royal attendants, close friends and even her own family attempt to control Victoria in a manner she resolutely defies. It gradually appears that her relationship with Prince Albert is the one in which she can truly believe, with Prince Albert proving himself to be a worthy confidant, advisor and lover. The development of the feelings between Victoria and Albert play out across the screen with a unusual tenderness, but marriage and conformity are sometimes too constrictive for the spirited young Queen. However, when the Prince is critically wounded by a rogue gun man on the streets, Victoria wakes up to Albert’s own talents for helping her reign her country, and indeed her own life, next to her and by her side.

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