Julian Fellowes wrote the script for Gosford Park – which I love as a film and not just because Robert Altman provides such a telling, outsider’s perspective on social class in England – but I’ve yet to see another of his films that works so well as a narrative.

The Young Victoria is a good example of a film that is pleasant to look at (like so many English period pieces) and filled with predictably good performances (I like Emily Blunt as Victoria and Rupert Friend as Albert), but there’s nothing special about the story as told.  The elements are there:  history, romance, intrigue, wealth, power, etc.

The film will appeal to a certain audience of people who have a predilection for costume drama, but I kept waiting for the story to ignite or at least to come together in a way that suggested something larger than the sum of its historical plot points.  Waiting and waiting…