The Young Victoria

"Patrice Vermette's production impresses through Hagen Bogdanski's lens and an oomphy score comprising Schubert, Handel and Strauss colours our emotional palettes. The film looks gorgeous with plush settings and stunning gowns, while Blunt photographs like a dream. I couldn't help thinking if they ever make a bio-pic about Princess Margaret, Emily Blunt would be perfect in the lead role. She even looks like her."

"Rose-tinted it may be, but this portrait of Britain’s longest-serving monarch never drags. Blunt and Friend secure your sympathy as the mutually adoring V&A, while Vallée sleekly braids the personal with the parliamentary."

"The great revelation of The Young Victoria is that it makes the enigmatic Prince Albert (Rupert Friend) come sharply into focus. Friend has made a specialty of likeable cads and while Albert was no cad, he had been trained from an early age to appeal to the future queen of England."

"An elegant, entertaining, informative picture with a gallery of vivid supporting turns, this provisionally crowns the winning Blunt as a Brit-pic star - but it skimps a bit on the bodice-ripping, blood and thunder."