Mrs. Brown Movie Review 1997

Unusual drama finds Queen Victoria (Dench), bereft by the death of Prince Albert, withdrawing from public life to her Scottish retreat at Balmoral. There she's looked after by coarse highlander John Brown (Connolly), who encourages her to take an interest in life. As he rises in the Queen's esteem, the brash commoner begins to become overly protective of her; leading to whispers of an affair. The powers-that-be, including the Prince of Wales (Westhead) and the oily Prime Minister Disraeli (Sher), then must persuade Brown to withdraw from her company in order to preserve her reputation. Merely hints at what may or may not have been a sexual relationship between the two, but isn't that the Victorian way?

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 103 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Great Britain, The Help: Male, Historical Drama, Period Piece: 19th Century, Royalty, British, Historical Romance

Screenplay

Jeremy Brock

Cast

Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Anthony Sher, Richard Pasco, Gerard Butler, David Westhead

Cinematography

Richard Greatrex

Director

John Madden

Music

Stephen Warbeck

Producer

Sarah Curtis, Miramax Films

Awards

British Acad. 1997: Actress (Dench), Costume Des.; Golden Globes 1998: Actress--Drama (Dench).