Amazon.co.uk Review
A romantic drama, this John Madden film looks at the relationship between Queen Victoria and John Brown, a commoner who, though a servant, becomes her closest friend and confidant. As such, he proves the catalyst to bring her back into public life and out of her private mourning for the late Prince Albert. But the closeness of their friendship sets tongues wagging about the impropriety of what appears to be an affair between queen and commoner (an issue the film never directly addresses). Mrs Brown's charm lies in the flinty give-and-take between the wonderfully starchy Judi Dench as Victoria and the robust Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, here playing it straight as a strong-willed Scotsman who comes to enjoy the power he wields by virtue of having the queen's ear. Antony Sher is also striking as Prime Minister Disraeli, in a performance that all but shimmers with unspoken malice. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
A Class!!!!!!!!!.......2007-11-13
Fantasic drama with a great will she wont storey line. Shows an insight to a great queens private life. A must watch!!
When Two Worlds Meet..... .......2007-09-15
A superb adaption of the story of Queen Victoria and royal servant John Brown, brought together by the untimely death of Prince Albert.After Alberts death it seems Victoria was inconsolable and as Albert was fond of John Brown he was called on to help.
When John arrives the contrast between him and the royal advisors surrounding the Queen is instantly apparent.Where they are only interested in getting the Queen to return to official duties John Brown is interested in the actual welfare of Victoria.His gruff manner garners him few friends in the Queens entourage and tongues soon start to wag.The social contrast between him and Victoria is immense but for all that they still get on wonderfully.Its probably the reason Victoria eventually recovered as John Brown was supportive but still treated her as a woman first and Queen second.
Excellent performances by Judi Dench as Victoria and Geoffrey Palmer as one of her advisors are true highlights.However pride of place must go to Billy Connolly for his role as John Brown.....simply outstanding.A wonderful historical drama which well illustrates the differences between the British classes during the nineteenth century.Highly recommended!
Weak Historical Drama. Billy Conelly excells........2007-04-09
Billy carries this otherwise lightwieght historical drama. There are some great scenes, but the characterisation of Victoria wasn't concvicing. The director also lost me with the suggestions of infidelity. Victoria had had umpteen children, I doubt she fancied another one. The Mrs Brown comments were an attack on her status not her fidelity. Furthermore Disraeli is badly misrepresented as a cynical politician which he certainly wasn't. Finally the story suddenly jumps to an unsatisfying ending.
In spite of the failings, I would recommend this film for Connelly's Suberb perfomance alone.
For a more sympathetic view of the same story, check out the charming comedy classic "The Mudlark".
"I think I am someone who can only feel things when they are alive to me.".......2006-10-09
After Prince Albert died in 1859, his memory was so alive to Queen Victoria, and her mourning for him was so dramatic that she virtually retired from the throne. Three years after Prince Albert's death, while the Queen was living in seclusion at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, John Brown was hired to tend her horses. A rough, virile man, far more accustomed to life in the wild than in royal castles, Brown treated the queen with respect, but he also treated her as a fellow human being, refusing to obey court etiquette while encouraging her to improve her health and spirits by riding in the hills. In time, he came to be her confidante, so much so that the royal family became alarmed at their relationship and members of Parliament began referring to her, mockingly, as "Mrs. Brown."
Judi Dench, in one of her best roles, is a wonderfully sympathetic Queen Victoria--haughty with those who try to control her, angry with those who cross her, and vulnerable to someone like Brown, who understands her loneliness and is determined to protect her. Billy Connolly is perfect as John Brown--rough, craggy-faced, full of life, and unafraid to tell the queen exactly what he thinks, a trait the queen comes to respect. Scenes between them show the queen in all her reserve slowly responding to Brown's honesty and inherent charm, and though there was no affair (though all the film publicity suggests otherwise), the depth of their emotional attachment is obvious.
Filmed on location in the Scottish highlands in 1998, this production features wonderfully intimate scenes of everyday royal life, including the full retinue of servants and ladies-in-waiting, the queen's enormous family, the impatient Prince of Wales, and many luminaries of history--especially Benjamin Disraeli (Antony Sher) and Lord Henry Ponsonby (Geoffrey Palmer), both of whom try to act in the queen's best interests while also protecting their own. As the queen responds to Mr. Brown's care, the slow, subtle effects on her everyday life become clear to the viewer through the remarkably acted scenes between Dench and Connolly. Dench won many Best Actress awards for her role here, and Connolly was nominated for an almost equal number for his role.
A gorgeous costume drama with a large cast, the film focuses on just two people--Dench and Connolly, both of whom are so overwhelming in their roles that everything else becomes peripheral. Mary Whipple
"The Remains of the Day" in Victorian Age.......2006-03-03
What an intriguing film maker John Madden is. His Oscar-winning "Shakespeare in Love" is centred on the path of young Shakespeare from anonymity to greatness - a period in writer's life about which we know practically nothing. From a subject equally elusive and much gossiped at its time - the nature of relationship between servant John Brown and Queen Victoria of England - Madden elicits in "Mrs. Brown" a powerful, sadly cruel and incredibly fascinating fresco of the eternally torn relationship between men and institutions, power constraints and individual drives. In a film with many qualities, the greatest is that Madden films as he breathes, drawing the maximum liveness and emotion from actors, photography, scenery and music for a Story always in motion. Scenes like Sir Henry Ponsonby introducing John Brown to the rules of service for the widowed Victoria, the cat-and-mouse power game between Brown, Private Secretary Ponsonby and the Queen, the fictional "historical interview" of the subtle prime minister Disraeli with a restless and increasingly disillusioned Brown, the impact of the servant with the Queen's coming back to public life are all moments of great cinema. They reminded me of the best achievements of Italian film maker Luchino Visconti. Not casually Visconti, like Madden, took inspired, unconventional choices for key roles in "Senso" ("The Wanton Countess") and "Il Gattopardo" ("The Leopard") to avoid having the main characters entangled by the rhetoric of History. Composer Stephen Warbeck and cinematographer Richard Greatrex teamed up again with Madden for "Shakespeare in Love".
Amazon.co.uk Review
A romantic drama, this John Madden film looks at the relationship between Queen Victoria and John Brown, a commoner who, though a servant, becomes her closest friend and confidant. As such, he proves the catalyst to bring her back into public life and out of her private mourning for the late Prince Albert. But the closeness of their friendship sets tongues wagging about the impropriety of what appears to be an affair between queen and commoner (an issue the film never directly addresses). Mrs Brown's charm lies in the flinty give-and-take between the wonderfully starchy Judi Dench as Victoria and the robust Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, here playing it straight as a strong-willed Scotsman who comes to enjoy the power he wields by virtue of having the queen's ear. Antony Sher is also striking as Prime Minister Disraeli, in a performance that all but shimmers with unspoken malice. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
A Class!!!!!!!!!.......2007-11-13
Fantasic drama with a great will she wont storey line. Shows an insight to a great queens private life. A must watch!!
When Two Worlds Meet..... .......2007-09-15
A superb adaption of the story of Queen Victoria and royal servant John Brown, brought together by the untimely death of Prince Albert.After Alberts death it seems Victoria was inconsolable and as Albert was fond of John Brown he was called on to help.
When John arrives the contrast between him and the royal advisors surrounding the Queen is instantly apparent.Where they are only interested in getting the Queen to return to official duties John Brown is interested in the actual welfare of Victoria.His gruff manner garners him few friends in the Queens entourage and tongues soon start to wag.The social contrast between him and Victoria is immense but for all that they still get on wonderfully.Its probably the reason Victoria eventually recovered as John Brown was supportive but still treated her as a woman first and Queen second.
Excellent performances by Judi Dench as Victoria and Geoffrey Palmer as one of her advisors are true highlights.However pride of place must go to Billy Connolly for his role as John Brown.....simply outstanding.A wonderful historical drama which well illustrates the differences between the British classes during the nineteenth century.Highly recommended!
Weak Historical Drama. Billy Conelly excells........2007-04-09
Billy carries this otherwise lightwieght historical drama. There are some great scenes, but the characterisation of Victoria wasn't concvicing. The director also lost me with the suggestions of infidelity. Victoria had had umpteen children, I doubt she fancied another one. The Mrs Brown comments were an attack on her status not her fidelity. Furthermore Disraeli is badly misrepresented as a cynical politician which he certainly wasn't. Finally the story suddenly jumps to an unsatisfying ending.
In spite of the failings, I would recommend this film for Connelly's Suberb perfomance alone.
For a more sympathetic view of the same story, check out the charming comedy classic "The Mudlark".
"I think I am someone who can only feel things when they are alive to me.".......2006-10-09
After Prince Albert died in 1859, his memory was so alive to Queen Victoria, and her mourning for him was so dramatic that she virtually retired from the throne. Three years after Prince Albert's death, while the Queen was living in seclusion at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, John Brown was hired to tend her horses. A rough, virile man, far more accustomed to life in the wild than in royal castles, Brown treated the queen with respect, but he also treated her as a fellow human being, refusing to obey court etiquette while encouraging her to improve her health and spirits by riding in the hills. In time, he came to be her confidante, so much so that the royal family became alarmed at their relationship and members of Parliament began referring to her, mockingly, as "Mrs. Brown."
Judi Dench, in one of her best roles, is a wonderfully sympathetic Queen Victoria--haughty with those who try to control her, angry with those who cross her, and vulnerable to someone like Brown, who understands her loneliness and is determined to protect her. Billy Connolly is perfect as John Brown--rough, craggy-faced, full of life, and unafraid to tell the queen exactly what he thinks, a trait the queen comes to respect. Scenes between them show the queen in all her reserve slowly responding to Brown's honesty and inherent charm, and though there was no affair (though all the film publicity suggests otherwise), the depth of their emotional attachment is obvious.
Filmed on location in the Scottish highlands in 1998, this production features wonderfully intimate scenes of everyday royal life, including the full retinue of servants and ladies-in-waiting, the queen's enormous family, the impatient Prince of Wales, and many luminaries of history--especially Benjamin Disraeli (Antony Sher) and Lord Henry Ponsonby (Geoffrey Palmer), both of whom try to act in the queen's best interests while also protecting their own. As the queen responds to Mr. Brown's care, the slow, subtle effects on her everyday life become clear to the viewer through the remarkably acted scenes between Dench and Connolly. Dench won many Best Actress awards for her role here, and Connolly was nominated for an almost equal number for his role.
A gorgeous costume drama with a large cast, the film focuses on just two people--Dench and Connolly, both of whom are so overwhelming in their roles that everything else becomes peripheral. Mary Whipple
"The Remains of the Day" in Victorian Age.......2006-03-03
What an intriguing film maker John Madden is. His Oscar-winning "Shakespeare in Love" is centred on the path of young Shakespeare from anonymity to greatness - a period in writer's life about which we know practically nothing. From a subject equally elusive and much gossiped at its time - the nature of relationship between servant John Brown and Queen Victoria of England - Madden elicits in "Mrs. Brown" a powerful, sadly cruel and incredibly fascinating fresco of the eternally torn relationship between men and institutions, power constraints and individual drives. In a film with many qualities, the greatest is that Madden films as he breathes, drawing the maximum liveness and emotion from actors, photography, scenery and music for a Story always in motion. Scenes like Sir Henry Ponsonby introducing John Brown to the rules of service for the widowed Victoria, the cat-and-mouse power game between Brown, Private Secretary Ponsonby and the Queen, the fictional "historical interview" of the subtle prime minister Disraeli with a restless and increasingly disillusioned Brown, the impact of the servant with the Queen's coming back to public life are all moments of great cinema. They reminded me of the best achievements of Italian film maker Luchino Visconti. Not casually Visconti, like Madden, took inspired, unconventional choices for key roles in "Senso" ("The Wanton Countess") and "Il Gattopardo" ("The Leopard") to avoid having the main characters entangled by the rhetoric of History. Composer Stephen Warbeck and cinematographer Richard Greatrex teamed up again with Madden for "Shakespeare in Love".
UK DVD:
- My House In Umbria [2003]
- My So Called Life
- Nip/Tuck - Series 4
- Numb3rs Season 2
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (2 Disc Special Edition) [1975]
- One Tree Hill - Series 4
- Oz : Season 1
- Oz : Season 2
- Pearl Harbor DVD (2 Disc Set) [2001]
- Pedro Almodovar Collection: Bad Education / Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down / Live Flesh / All About My Mother / Talk To Her [2004]
UK DVD List
UK DVD
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