Mrs. Brown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the song by Herman's Hermits see Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter
- "Mrs. Brown" is also a Dr. Seuss character.
| Mrs. Brown | |
|---|---|
 Video release poster for the film |
|
| Directed by | John Madden |
| Produced by | Sarah Curtis |
| Written by | Jeremy Brock |
| Starring | Judi Dench Billy Connolly Geoffrey Palmer Antony Sher Gerard Butler |
| Music by | Stephen Warbeck |
| Cinematography | Richard Greatrex |
| Editing by | Robin Sales |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista International (UK) Miramax (USA) |
| Release date(s) | July 18, 1997 (USA) |
| Running time | 103 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mrs. Brown (also released and advertised under the title Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown) is a 1997 British drama film starring Dame Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher, and Gerard Butler. It was written by Jeremy Brock and directed by John Madden.
The film was produced by the BBC and Ecosse Films with the intention of being shown on BBC One and on WGBH's Masterpiece Theatre. However, it was acquired by Miramax, and released to unexpected success, going on to earn more than $13,000,000 worldwide.
[edit] Synopsis
After several screens of text giving some background, we see a bust flying over a palace wall and shattering into countless pieces. The film then begins.
The film tells the story of Queen Victoria (played by Dame Judi Dench) and her relationship with a Scottish servant, John Brown (played by comedian Billy Connolly), and the subsequent uproar it provoked. Brown had been a trusted servant of Victoria's then deceased consort, Prince Albert; Victoria's chief servants thought Brown might help to ease the apparently inconsolable Queen's deep grief over the prince consort's death in 1861. To help ease the Queen toward resuming public life after years of secluded mourning, Brown is summoned to court.
The plan succeeds too well for the servants, especially Victoria's chief secretary Sir Henry Ponsonby (played by Geoffrey Palmer) and The Prince of Wales (played by David Westhead) as well as other members of the royal family, the public, press and politicians soon come to resent Brown's perceived influence over the Queen. Brown takes considerable liberties with court protocol, especially by addressing Her Majesty as "woman". He also quickly takes control over the Queen's daily activities, further aggravating the tensions between himself and the royal family and servants.
The moniker "Mrs. Brown", used both at the time and in the film, implied an improper, and perhaps sexual, relationship. The film does not directly address the contemporary suspicions that the Queen and Brown had had a sexual relationship and perhaps had even secretly married (q.v. the article on Brown), though cartoons from the satirical magazine Punch are shown as being passed around in Parliament (only one of the cartoons is revealed to the camera, showing an empty throne, with the sceptre lying unhanded across it).
The film shows that Victoria's virtual immurement, especially at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, something initially encouraged by Brown, led to a fall in her popularity and a rise in republican sentiment. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (Antony Sher)—with his slipping hold over the House of Commons, coupled with his fear of anti-monarchical sentiment—persuades Brown to use his influence with the Queen to have her return to the performance of her public duties, especially the "speech from the throne" at the impending opening of Parliament.
Brown is reluctant to do so, rightly fearing that Victoria will take this is as a betrayal. And, in due course, the two argue when Brown urges her to fulfil her public duties, the Queen does indeed become very angry with Brown. When he addresses her in his usual, casual manner as "woman," she sharply rebukes him. Their relationship was never the same.
The Queen's decision to return to follow Brown's urging leads to a resurgence of her personal popularity and public support for the monarchy.
However, Brown continues to serve Victoria until his death in 1883, chiefly supervising her security; this is illustrated by Brown's frustration of a mock-attack on Victoria at a public function. In a following, formal dinner scene, after the Prince of Wales falsely claims to have alerted Brown to the would-be attacker, Victoria announces that she is going to create a medal for Brown, saying it will be called the Devoted Service Medal.
Despite this, the film shows that the two never again become the intimate friends that they had once been. Only on his deathbed does she finally relent and some of their old closeness belatedly returns. The audience learns that Brown has died of pneumonia via a conversation between the Queen's physician, Dr. Jenner (Richard Pasco), and Ponsonby.
Brown is shown, in several scenes of the film, to be keeping a diary. Ponsonby asks the physician if he'd read it and then asks the doctor to return it. The doctor also explains that the Prince of Wales had hurled one of the Queen's favourite busts of Brown over the "palace wall", thus explaining the opening shot.
At the end of the film, the audience is told, in text, "John Brown's diary was never found."
[edit] Awards and Nominations
- nominated Academy Award (US) for Best Actress in a Leading Role
- winner, BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role
- winner, Golden Globe for Best Performance in a Motion Picture - Drama
- nominated, Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role
- nominated for the Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Award for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role
- nominated for the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in a Film.
- nominated for the BAFTA Awards-Scotland for Best Performance In a Leading role.
- nominated, BAFTA, Best Film
- nominated, Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film
(for full awards information, see link to Internet Movie Data Base under External Links)
[edit] External links
 |
This 1990s drama film-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
