ROYAL AFFAIRS

By RICHARD CORLISS

The richest woman around has been in mourning for her late husband so long that her sorrow has become a career. Her family can't console her; the managers of the conglomerate she heads are afraid to challenge her. Then her death-in-life is changed by a humble--actually, a quite arrogant--horseman named John Brown. He speaks boldly to her and rudely to her children. He takes her on long walks, gives her counsel; most important, he makes her laugh. She is, again, a woman in love. Gossips derisively call her "Mrs. Brown."

This might be a Gaslight-style melodrama. Mrs. Brown, though, is a true story, about Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) and her long grief after Prince Albert's death. When her intimacy with Brown (Billy Connolly) becomes known, demands to abolish the monarchy ring through Parliament, forcing Prime Minister Disraeli (Antony Sher) to call on Brown. Her Majesty must be coaxed out of hibernation and back to her people.

As written by Jeremy Brock and directed by John Madden, this British film has the regal, clubby aura of Masterpiece Theatre (which co-produced Mrs. Brown). Nicely, it lets viewers decide whether Brown is a devoted servant or a devious bully and whether the Queen's long bereavement is partly stubbornness masquerading as principle. It also provides a field day for some wonderful actors too little seen on this side of the Atlantic. Sher is a wily, puckish delight; and Dame Judi, her face clamped in anguish, radiates the stern ecstasy of grief. This queen of English understatement embodies Victoria's belief: that mourning is the only way survivors can consummate their love for the dead.

--By Richard Corliss