Anderson shines in historical drama
Viceroy’s House (M, 106 mins), Directed by Gurinder Chadha, ★★★★
Lord Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) has been handed a ‘‘hospital pass’’.
Handpicked to be the latest Viceroy of India, his role is to ensure that he’s the final one. Even Winston Churchill himself describes it as ‘‘the worst job in the world’’. It’s 1947 and Britain has announced that it will be leaving the subcontinent after three centuries. As one local wag observes, ‘‘England can’t afford to keep us, war has exhausted them’’.
Not so Mountbatten, wife Edwina (Gillian Anderson) and teen-daughter Pamela (Lily Travers), who decide to expose the 34 state rooms and 10 private dining rooms of their new residence to more local cuisine and inhabitants.
‘‘Half our guests must be Indian,’’ the powerful and progressive Edwina informs the staff, much to some older hands’ chagrin. Their resistance though will not be tolerated, as the Mountbatten’s resolve to ‘‘weed out’’ those who refuse to interact.
Forming a new country is not quite so simple though, especially against a backdrop of rising tensions between Muslim and Hindi populations. The former desire their own ‘‘home’’, Pakistan, while the latter do not want ‘‘Mother India’’ carved up arbitrarily. But even as Mountbatten attempts to broker a deal to satisfy all parties he’s being undermined by other British government officials who seemingly have already drawn up a plan of their own.
Boasting a solid cast of wellknown thespians (as well as Downton Abbey‘s Bonneville and The Fall‘s Anderson, there’s also Simon Callow and Michael Gambon), opulent settings and impressive production design and costuming, Viceroy’s House reminds one very much of the Merchant-Ivory films (The Remains of the Day, A Room with a View) of the 1980s and 90s.
That’s a view boosted by a significant sub-plot of star-crossed lovers among the household employees. Jeet (Manish Dayal) is an ambitious young Hindi man, Aalia (Huma Qureshi) is the Muslim girl he fancies.
But she’s torn between the loyalty to her father – who wants her to marry a man serving with the British army – and what her own heart desires.
Their dilemma is not helped by the proposed actions of their employers which would likely see them forcibly separated by a partition plan revolving around their respective faiths.
Gurinder Chadha’s (Bend it Like Beckham) Upstairs, Downstairs approach works well in terms of drawing you into what could be a dry history lesson, however there is a perhaps a little too much contrivance and melodrama in making this epic story intimate. There’s also a sense sometimes of it being two movies that don’t always gel.
But while it’s no Gandhi, Viceroy’s House is a satisfying slice of entertaining historical drama, with a powerhouse, awardsworthy performance from Anderson.