The Young Victoria

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about The Young Victoria's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of The Young Victoria completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 28 August 2009.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie The Young Victoria contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Queen Victoria (Emily Blunt) is 11 years old when she realises that she is next in line to the throne of England, with her mother the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson) to be Regent if the existing king, King William (Jim Broadbent) dies before Victoria comes of age. In the meantime, others try to position themselves to get control, including Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong) who has a great deal of influence over the Duchess of Kent, and the Duchess of Kent’s brother King Leopold of Belgium.

King Leopold sends his nephew Prince Albert (Rupert Friend) to England to ‘woo’ the queen and hence create a strong link between the two families. Victoria and Albert fall in love, but the courtship is not straightforward because Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) initially has an enormous amount of influence over Victoria. It is only after some real political problems and the supportive and good advice from Prince Albert that Victoria realises just how important he is to her and they are married.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

None of concern

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• Sir John Conroy argues with Victoria and then pushes her violently onto the couch
• An assassin attempts to kill Victoria and Albert gets in front of her. Albert is hurt and carried into the palace, bleeding.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scene, children under the age of eight could be concerned by a scene in which Victoria is sick and Sir John is trying to force her to sign over the regency to her mother. Victoria refuses, and Sir John shouts at her and shakes her.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened. Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

It is unlikely that children over the age of eight would be disturbed by anything in this movie.

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• When Prince Albert found that they only had three days for a ‘honeymoon’ he stopped dressing Victoria and started undressing her (only her stockings) as he said they didn’t have much time.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• After their marriage ceremony, Victoria and Albert are in bed together for the first time. They kiss passionately and the next day when they wake up Victoria says that she now feels ‘quite married’

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Wine is served at all the big dinners
• King William is very drunk at one point and insults the Duchess of Kent.

Coarse language

None

The movie's message

The Young Victoria is a period drama which describes the life of Queen Victoria before she became Queen and up until the birth of her first child. It highlights the difficulties faced by a young woman expected to inherit the throne of England. Victoria shows strength, determination and a great deal of courage in her desire to stand up for herself and her beliefs against others who try to manipulate and use her.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include the importance of:

• listening to good advice
• being honest and true to yourself
• helping others less fortunate than yourself
• sincere relationships

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the difference between stubbornness and strength, and the disastrous results that can occur if the two are confused.