Victoria & Abdul (2017)

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

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Judi Dench	...	Queen Victoria
Ali Fazal	...	Abdul Karim
Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Sir Henry Ponsonby
Eddie Izzard	...	Bertie, Prince of Wales
Adeel Akhtar	...	Mohammed
Michael Gambon	...	Lord Salisbury
Paul Higgins	...	Dr. Reid
Olivia Williams	...	Lady Churchill
Fenella Woolgar	...	Miss Phipps
Julian Wadham	...	Alick Yorke
Robin Soans	...	Arthur Bigge
Ruth McCabe	...	Mrs. Tuck
Simon Callow	...	Puccini
Sukh Ojla	...	Mrs. Karim
Kemaal Deen-Ellis	...	Ahmed

Storyline

Abdul Karim arrives from India to participate in Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. The young clerk is surprised to find favor with the queen herself. 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.

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Plot Keywords:

royal court | unlikely friendship | queen of england | muslim | courtier | 

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Taglines:

History's most unlikely friendship

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Urdu Hindi

Release Date:

6 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Victoria y Abdul

Filming Locations:

Cairngorms, Highland, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$158,845, 24 September 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$22,245,070, 4 January 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Films, Cross Street Films, Isobel Griffiths Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Stephen Frears was awarded the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the 74th Venice Film Festival (2017) just before a public screening of this film. Other cast members present at the screening included Dame Judi Dench, Ali Fazal and Eddie Izzard.

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Goofs

At the first dinner, we can see the servers holding trays of soup standing behind the diners. Then the boy runs to the kitchen to announce they want the soup course. We see the waiters bringing trays of soup into the dining room then they cut to that same scene of the waiters standing behind the diners with the same trays of soup.

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Quotes

Sir Henry Ponsonby: To celebrate the completion of the Durbar Room, a little surprise, Your Majesty.
[Queen Victoria is presented with a mango in a box]
Queen Victoria: What is it?
Sir Henry Ponsonby: A mango, Your Majesty.
Abdul Karim: One moment, Your Majesty.
[Abdul looks at the mango and presses it, some juice sticking to his finger]
Abdul Karim: Uh, it-it's... off.
Queen Victoria: Sir Henry, this mango is off.
[servant closes the mango box and backs away]
Sir Henry Ponsonby: I-I'm terribly sorry, Your Majesty.

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Crazy Credits

The title doesn't appear until 16 minutes into the movie.

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Connections

Featured in The Oscars (2018)

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Soundtracks

I'm Called Little Buttercup
Written by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
Arranged by Terry Davies
Performed by Judi Dench and Eddie Izzard

User Reviews

This goes down a treat.

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.