6 thoughts on “Victoria & Abdul Is Not Just for the Geriatric

  1. I have seen this film and enjoyed it but I wish that Abdul had been given more complexity. From my research, he was much more ambitious and calculating than the film makes him out to be.

  2. I loved the film, not just for the content but because my entire family, from a 16-year boy old on up to my 54-year old lady self, sat and watched it and there were sniffles, and gasps of outrage, and a general declaration of “That was a REALLY nice movie!” It’s easy to digest, loads of splendid scenery to soak up and oh dear, I thought we were the only ones who noticed the women’s fashions failed to change after a lengthy period of time. Faux pas or maybe they simply thought we wouldn’t notice and didn’t want to splurge on new?
    I did love the progression of black dresses and was impressed with the variety the costume designer portrayed. I did notice a lot of reads-as-black at the beginning but yes, now it’s mentioned, toward the end everything became somber and sad. Usually it’s just the music that spurs this feeling in my mind but I believe it was a combination of lighting, music, and yes, the clothing. I have some viewing to do this afternoon, I need a Victoria fix to get my chin up.

  3. I thought it was a beautiful film, if somewhat sanitized (the real Abdul was much more ambitious than shown here, apparently) and… quite sad. It left me so melancholy at their unfair treatment of him at the end, I doubt I will watch it a second time.

    I must, however, be the only person on the planet who doesn’t get the appeal of Judi Dench. It feels like she plays the same deadpan character in every movie except Cranford.

  4. Hi Kendra–thanks for mentioning the casting of Eddie Izzard–I wouldn’t have caught that but now that I plan to BUY this DVD for costume reference, I will enjoy it all the more. I think he is brilliant as a comedian and can just imagine what went on on the set. See you at CoCo.

  5. I have not had a change to watch this film. However, I was able to read the book and listen to the Historic Royal Palaces Podcast. Abdul Karim was originally given to Queen Victoria as a “gift”. She delighted in his company to the horror of her children as they did not approve of the friendship. He called her mother and she called him her loving son. Queen Victoria was noted for her journaling and she saved all her correspondence. After she died her daughters burned all the letters between her and Abdul and removed all mention of him in her private diaries. They also broke into Abdul’s home and ransacked it too remove all the letters, journals, and gifts that he received in the 15 years in the Queen’s service. He was then removed from the home in England and sent back to India. While there twice more his property was searched to ensure that he did not have anymore personal gifts from the Queen.
    The true nature of their relationship was forgotten until the journals that the Queen wrote in Hindustani were translated by Sharabani Basu. There they found a warm and maternal relationship between them. She would give advice on how to get his wife pregnant, go to his house to play with his cat and kittens, and treated his house as a refuge when she needed to decompress.

  6. Wonderful post! Thank you so much for always being so brilliantly informative – I’m bowled over by your ability to spot the V&A riding jacket recreation (bravo!) I wanted to search for more info on the jacket, but when I typed this post’s name into Google, I found that someone has reprinted this article verbatim on a website called “moviesrelated” (with no credits to frockflicks as the original source or Kendra as the author). Thought I should flag that, it sounds a bit dodgy to me

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