Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Queen Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim.
Victoria & Abdul is a pleasant but somewhat shallow historical drama that coasts on the charm of its central performances. Judi Dench is magnificent as the aging Queen Victoria, bringing warmth and wry humor to the role, while Ali Fazal holds his own as Abdul Karim. However, the plot is fairly thin and episodic, leaning heavily on the novelty of the friendship without exploring its deeper complexities or the colonial implications with much rigor. The film is handsomely mounted with period-appropriate production design but offers little cinematographic distinction. As a story it covers well-trodden 'unlikely friendship across class/culture' territory, and its portrayal of the British court's racism, while present, feels somewhat sanitized for palatability. The ending is bittersweet but fairly predictable given the historical record.