F
For Victoria and Abdul, Stephen Frears and writer Lee Hill portray Queen Victoria as the willing victim of a “typical glum-and-cold” British picnic. Unwilling to be put off by an oncoming thunderstorm, cold, and wind, Victoria insists on picnicking on the heath. It’s.
The screenplay describes the picnic as Frears filmed it. It overlooks spectacular scenery, but Queen Victoria behaves as if she was in her back garden. Abdul and Mohammed stand to attention in the background. Mohammed sneezes. Butlers and maids serve the tea. Queen Victoria is very well wrapped up. She gorges herself on a sponge cake. Everyone else is cold and miserable. Ponsonby whispers to Dr. Reid: Ponsonby It’s alright for her. She’s upholstered. The hand of the serving-man shakes as he pours the tea.
When raindrops splash in the teacups, the picnickers trudge to shelter under umbrellas.
See Stephen Frears. Victoria and Abdul (2017). Screenplay by Lee Hill based on Shrabani Basu’s The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant (2010). Cast: Judi Dench as Queen Victoria; Ali Fazal as Abdul Karim