If you wanted to be glib and coarse, not to mention antithetical to the film’s convivial tone, you could describe “Victoria & Abdul” as the movie that finally lets a constipated Queen Victoria take a shit. It’s about a doodie dislodged that brings joy and liberation. Hear me out.
In Stephen Frears’ agreeable period costume drama— which is engaging and charming thanks to Judi Dench, if too nonthreatening and ingratiating otherwise— the bowels are the window to the soul. And this uptight spirit — the Queen’s insides — is terribly backed up. The year is 1887 and Queen Victoria (Dench), set in her ways, and deep into her ‘70s, is irritable, bored, widowed and devastated by the death of her old Scottish footman. A prisoner of her own conventions, too powerful and isolated to make any meaningful connections, and disdainful of all her subordinates, the royal doyenne, lonely and without purpose, eats her way through life and is thus severely emotionally and physically obstructed (there is a little plot thread that has doctors fixated on her bowel movements and it’s a metaphor for her outlook on life).
However, relief arrives from the unlikeliest of places when two Indian Muslims, Abdul (Ali Fazal) and Mohammed (Adeel Akhtar), travel from India to present a ceremonial medal as part of the Queen’s extravagant Golden Jubilee, an occasion the Queen braces for and treats with contempt. Yet, when Abdul, of perpetually sunny, optimistic disposition, is bold or stupid enough to make eye contact with the Queen — a customary no-no — his courage (and good looks) amuse her. It’s a sensation she hasn’t felt in several years.
Enchanted and a little smitten, the Queen requests his cheery, fawning presence and quickly enough, much to the royal court’s surprise and shock, Abdul finds favor with the elderly Empress of India. He provides an endearing laxative quality and soon, the Queen finds spiritual and intestinal relief. Much to the chagrin of everyone around the normally-cantankerous ruler (folks like Michael Gambon and Olivia Williams), Abdul becomes a most trusted aide.
Conventionally told, though often pretty to look at for its superb production design and fetishism for the Victorian age, “Victoria & Abdul” is the true story of an improbable friendship; a young, lowly Indian clerk, who grows in estimation and becomes a teacher, spiritual advisor, and a dear, devoted friend to her Highness. Abdul would spend over a decade with her, become one of her most beloved and trusted companions, and stay by her side until her death in 1901.
The unprecedented relationship causes a disgusted revolt within the openly-racist royal household causing her son, Bertie, the Prince of Wales (Eddie Izzard) and several other advisers to plot and sabotage the Queens’s relationship with the obsequious, but genuinely endearing attendant. Yet, as hostile as the coup is, as controversial as the intimacy is, the intractable Queen could give a shit.
The third feature-length collaboration between Frears and Dench (“Mrs. Henderson Presents,” “Philomena” and five total if you count two more TV projects) and the second time the actress has played Victoria (“Mrs. Brown”) the Dame can do no wrong, and the creative partnership feels effortless and natural. Obviously, Frears has an affinity for regal movies about monarchs, crafting them in his sleep without sleepwalking through the process. Dench inhabits stately characters with ease and “Victoria & Abdul” proves no different. However, as slight as the movie is, it’s hard to argue the actress isn’t, much like Meryl Streep, consistently terrific. Whenever “Victoria & Abdul” appears too trifling or cloying, Dench is there to lift and carry the movie beyond its genial tendencies. And give Frears at least some credit for often giving voice and agency to so many feisty septuagenarian women — it’s not every filmmaker’s first choice subject.
Political history majors and the socially conscious will certainly bristle at the quaint portrait of two friends bridging a class system without really making much of the imposition of British colonialism during a time when independence movements in the sub-continent were growing in force. England’s imperial rule over India is touched upon, but mostly skated over in favor of something more lighthearted. For better or worse, the movie, based on the book by Shrabani Basu, is almost wholly interested in the exploration of the nearly inconceivable friendship and the fusty aristocracy repelled by it.
There’s always something grotesque and insulting about master and servant movies that try and peddle the fairy tale of correspondent equivalency in an inherently power-imbalanced relationship, and “Victoria & Abdul” certainly traffics in this problematic fantasy. “Victoria & Abdul” is a movie that flirts with exploring prejudice, cultural tension, power, and religion, but never really consummates the ideas. At best, it tries to humorously dismantle the absurdity of empires and royalty, but that’s about as subversive as it gets. There’s certainly an aspect to Abdul that’s incredibly toadying (and underwritten for that matter), and his friend Mohammed even curses him out at as an Uncle Tom. Much like Abdul, the amiable “Victoria & Abdul” is eager to please, but perhaps isn’t quite as sycophantic to the audience as one might imagine.
Frears once famously said he liked “making films about different cultures…I’m interested in things that I’ve never encountered before. I try to put myself in the audience’s position,” and this certainly defines “Victoria & Abdul” as the director once more transports the viewer to the milieu of royalty with some with populist, viewer-friendly sensibilities in tow. Frears’ direction always appears superficially anonymous, but his simple, classicist form essentially centers on no-frills communication of storytelling and feeling. It’s not exciting filmmaking by any stretch, but as a movie like “Philomena” proved, simplicity can work. Consequently, Frears’ dramedy is both perfectly pleasant and notably anodyne.
Frears’ lightweight, but charismatic movie isn’t about to change cinema, the world, nor repair racial divisions, and it sure won’t draw in cinephiles, but it’s the kind of easy, breezy crowd pleaser that wins festival audience awards and easily enchants audiences of all ages. That all might sound like faint praise, but again, the way in which Judi Dench enriches the fable with her superb performance is appealing.
“Victoria & Abdul” may not convert its feel-good sensibilities into something more resonant the way “Philomena” did in its third act, nor is it as delightful as “Florence Foster Jenkins,” but at the end of the day, its main concerns are depicting a fond, mutually affectionate relationship and to that end the film is warmhearted, tender and sincerely gives a crap. [B-]
Check out all our coverage of the 2017 Venice Film Festival here.
