Esotropiart

Actress Judi Dench did a fine job in this BBC movie, as did Billy Connolly. Judi Dench played Queen Victoria in 19th century England. After her husband's premature death of typhoid fever, she was tossed into an incorrigible mourning demise. She never left her home in Windsor and became utterly disinterested in political and public life. One of her chief servants, in a desperate hope, called on John Brown (Billy Connolly), a Scottish highlander who might have a chance at reviving the lady's spirits.

After John uses his gruff charm to gain the trust of his queen and lures her "out into the light" and away from sorrowful thoughts, scandalous gossip and slanderous tabloids defame the Queen for her closeness to John, creating more problems for John than for the Queen. In a struggle between revealing a plot of the Queen's enemies to ruin him or keeping it to himself and continuing in loyal service, John breaks down. It is a great tale of true friendship and service of one human being to another.

The movie, though essentially a tragedy in the end, was a fine spot of acting by most involved. The ending certainly lacked something, but half the time I enjoy a more contemplative or real ending anyway. Hollywood movies with "ever after" conclusions are pass?.