No one does queen better than Judi Dench! And director Stephen Frears has some experience with queens too, having directed The Queen with Helen Mirren as Elizabeth. In his new film, Victoria and Abdul, Dench plays Queen Victoria as both bored old lady and lonely royal, fatigued by outliving everyone she has ever loved. Into this privileged deprivation comes a lowly, handsome servant (Ali Fazal) from India who gives the queen another chapter, conversing with her on many subjects including exotic fruit, such as mango, and teaching her Urdu, much to the horror of her court, and to the heir to her throne, “Bertie” (the divine Eddie Izzard). Based on a cache of letters and other writings unearthed in 2010 from Abdul Karim, a real-life personage whose existence was entirely unknown until the recent find, Victoria and Abdul tells a new story in the well-mined history of the British monarchy.
A quick study, the queen learns Urdu under Abdul Karim’s tutelage. “Did any of it stick?” I asked. Judi Dench began to speak to me in Urdu, and I pretended to comprehend, praising her. “It’s just a really good story,” she deflected my admiring words as actors Celia Weston, Kathleen Turner, and Tova Feldshuh gathered around, and Huma Abedin joined the party late.
For dessert, the chef at Milano prepared a refreshing mango parfait.
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