Mrs Brown

8/27/2023

There have been goodness knows how many theories about the relationship between Queen Victoria and her highland ghillie John Brown, brought from Her Majesty's estate at Balmoral to try to prize her from her routine of melancholy following the death of Prince Albert. In this version, John Madden cleverly decides to emphasise the characterisations of the Queen and of her Highland servant, rather than to try and create something that historians can argue over... Of course it's all speculative, but both Judi Dench and Billy Connolly excel here at building an honest, and ultimately loving friendship that is plausible - especially for the widow surrounded otherwise by an almost acolytic suite of staff. Geoffrey Palmer is also on good form as her Private Secretary (Sir Henry Ponsonby) trying to w