Victoria and Abdul - 2 nominations

Costume Design, Consolata Boyle
Makeup and Hairstyling, Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard

Victoria and Abdul tells the story of England's Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) in the late 1800's and her unlikely friendship with a young man from India who becomes her trusted advisor and teacher.  This relationship comes much to the chagrin of her family (especially her son Bertie, future heir to the throne), her staff, her advisors and the British government.  Queen Victoria knows her power and her standing as the Queen of England and the Empress of India, and she refuses to be bullied into or out of the relationships she chooses.  

Here's a funny bit of trivia, in the film, the Queen talks about how much she misses John Brown, the man that Queen Victoria had a close relationship with earlier in her life after her husband died.  There was even a movie made about that relationship in 1997, and the woman who played the Queen in that film?  You guessed it.  It was Judi Dench.  So perhaps, in a way, Queen Victoria/Judi Dench was reminiscing about John Brown/Billy Connelly!

Either way, this film was just a pleasure.  Another one that is based on true events (we don't know how true, or which were real events), but it's fun to imagine a stalwart Queen who knows her own mind and won't take any guff from anyone.  The costumes and makeup and hairstyling are of course wonderful, as they often are in period pieces.  (Period pieces do remarkably well at the Oscars.)  I highly recommend Victoria and Abdul for a solid piece of lovely entertainment.