In the 1860s, top Highland servant John Brown (Billy Connolly) comes to Balmoral to the Scottish court of Queen Victoria (Judi Dench). His principal task seems to be to supervise the horses, but the dominant, bekilted, bearded, outspoken Scot has soon taken over the servants and brought the queen out of three years' self-imposed mourning following the death of her beloved husband. Not surprisingly, despite conducting an unspoken love affair with the queen, the rough diamond eventually oversteps the mark... Connolly is perfectly cast as Brown, if limited as an actor, while Dench, deservedly Oscar-nominated, finds all the depths and truths in the queen's character that the role requires. Despite noble performances, though, this carefully mounted film does at times prove heavy going.

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