08/15/97
MOVIE REVIEW: Mrs. Brown
A lukewarm scandal, but a fascinating look at court life

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

*** (out of five)
Starring Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher, Gerard Butler, Richard Pasco, David Weshead. A Miramax Films release written by Jeremy Brock, directed by John Madden. Rated PG, contains adult themes, brief nudity. Running time: 103 minutes.

When Britain's Prince Albert died of typhoid fever in 1861, Queen Victoria was inconsolable.

Her mourning period lasted several years and prompted one of her staff to complain, "We are prisoners of the queen's grief." Her torpor kept her out of the public eye for such a long time, in fact, that there were moves afoot in Parliament to abolish the monarchy.

It was only after the arrival of a kilt-wearing Scotsman named John Brown into her court in 1864 that Victoria slowly came out of her deep depression. Brown was her beloved Albert's favorite servant when they visited Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Victoria saw in him a sort of a connection to her late husband. Brown could do things with the queen -- breaking the rule that you couldn't speak to her unless she addressed you first, for instance -- that no one else would dare.

Eventually she was riding off into the countryside with the bearded Scot, dancing again, being taken by him to visit with a married couple in the country and generally having a good time. So much so that the newspapers began to hint of some stronger relationship between the queen and Brown, who began to think of himself more as a friend than a servant. Some people, even in government, took to calling her "Mrs. Brown."



Stuffy costume drama

The rumors and innuendos of the time serve as the basis for Mrs. Brown, a stuffy costume drama that feels so much like a Masterpiece Theatre production that I wasn't surprised at the end to discover that it really was a Masterpiece Theatre production.

Promotional materials for the film wink at the idea of royal scandal to be found here, but Mrs. Brown is very careful not to show any improprieties. Yes, there's a brief scene of skinny dipping, but it's Billy Connolly as Brown and Gerard Butler who plays his brother, Archie, who jump into the ocean. Earlier, when Judi Dench as Queen Victoria goes into the sea, she's wearing a colossal bathing suit that looks more a hindrance to swimming than an 1860s fashion statement.

Although Brown kept a diary of his years with Victoria and there are hints throughout the film that it served as the basis for this story, in reality it disappeared immediately after Brown's death. No one knows what really went on behind locked doors in the royal household of a queen who gave her name to an entire era of high-minded morality. No dirt here. Mrs. Brown is based on conjecture . . . and tepid conjecture at that.

Connolly stars in a hit situation comedy in England (American viewers may remember him from the final season of the schoolroom sitcom Head of the Class), but he plays Brown as a straightforward, plainspoken man who stirs up the court by saying whatever he thinks the situation warrants. Coupled with Dench's dour Victoria, who makes much use of the royal "we" in references to herself, they're not exactly a fun couple.



Needed a strong man

It appears that Victoria, who relied on Albert in affairs of state, needed a strong man to give her guidance. Mrs. Brown makes the point that she found those attributes in Brown, from whom she seems to draw energy.

Yet despite a warming relationship that Brown believes is friendship, there's not a lot of fireworks between this odd couple. Not much more than a firecracker, really.

So Mrs. Brown, directed by John Madden in workmanlike style, is interesting mainly for its behind-the-scenes look at what court life was like for the world's most powerful woman. She wielded as strong a stick over her children as her government wielded over a good portion of the rest of the world in England's era of empire-building.

Some of the film's most entertaining sequences revolve around the give-and-take between Victoria and her son, Albert (David Westhead), the Prince of Wales, who flits around the perimeter of the court trying to grab power.

"We will not be dictated to," she says staunchly, digging in against her children's demands.

Antony Sher is very good as Disraeli, the unctuous prime minister who flattered his way into pushing Victoria into his corner. And there's good work, too, by Geoffrey Palmer as her sometimes exasperated personal secretary who keeps all the palace secrets locked away.

As a little-known footnote to British history, it's fascinating.