“Mrs. Brown,” showing Sept. 8-18, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville; rated PG (brief nudity, mild adult content).

In the wake of Princess Diana’s death comes “Mrs. Brown,” a film that explores Queen Victoria’s long mourning after the death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, and how an outsider helps her to resolve her feelings of loss and find her way back to the living.

It is a film that is so eerily timely, the audience at my screening began turning to their companions in disbelief at several key moments, none of which was more shocking than the moment the yellow press (19th century’s version of the paparazzi) loomed on screen to record Victoria’s doings.

Though no cameras were involved, Queen Victoria was indeed stalked and nearly ruined by a band of “journalists” who questioned her mourning, the role of the monarchy, and especially her relationship with the commoner, John Brown, a Scotsman widely acknowledged during part of Victoria’s reign as the man behind the throne. Through this feeding frenzy of gossip and supposition, the monarchy was threatened and came dangerously close to being eliminated by the people.

“Mrs. Brown” is a film forever changed in the advent of Princess Diana’s death. Had she not died, it still would have been one of the year’s best films — it is that good. But her death has touched this, too. With it, the film rises through the rough clouds of criticism and controversy the Royals have endured during the past week to become something deeper and altogether better than director Madden could have planned or even hoped.

The film opens in 1864 when Victoria’s secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby (Geoffrey Palmer), calls back into royal service Prince Albert’s most favored groom, John Brown (Billy Connolly). Brown’s purpose in coming to Victoria’s Balmoral palace is essentially to lift the queen’s spirits by taking her riding. What Ponsonby does not know is that Brown is as strong-willed as Victoria (Judi Dench), that they would form a solid relationship steeped in mutual respect, and that he would eventually become indispensable to the queen.

Of course, none of this occurs without an initial show of fireworks between the queen and Brown, but these fireworks only serve to deepen their bond as it grows into a love that transcends their eventual parting.

Judi Dench, a veteran of the London stage, has long steered clear of Hollywood’s silver screen. While she did play “M” in a Bond film, this is her first starring role in a motion picture and her performance is breathtaking. She will be nominated by the academy — of that I’m certain. Her Victoria is a complicated woman whose struggle not to show feeling, not to become fully human, moves and captivates you. With Brown’s help, she does triumph for a time, but more often we see so clearly in her expressive eyes how her rigid and dysfunctional Royal upbringing has turned her into damaged goods.

And this is where the film soars through the years and moves startlingly into the present. How could the Royals have had any chance to be anything like us when centuries of tradition have prevented them from being so? For them, mourning privately is to respect the dead. But to mourn openly — publicly — is as alien to them as the life Princess Diana tried to show her sons.

Video of the Week: “Dead Ringer”

Bette Davis emasculated men long before it was fashionable. Near the end of her career, and certainly after her star-turn in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,” she became fully aware of how her public wanted to see her. In “The Nanny,” “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte,” and “Dead Ringer,” she stole the thunder from impersonators and comics alike by turning the tables on them and parodying herself.

The result, of course, was high camp, but it was also good filmmaking. Davis will always be the quintessential star who knew she could say more with a puff of smoke or with a raised eyebrow than any other actress in town.

In 1964’s “Dead Ringer,” we get a double dose of Davis as she plays twin sisters — poor, downtrodden Edie, and stinking rich Maggie — who love to loathe each other. Why? Eighteen years earlier, Maggie tricked Edie’s wealthy boyfriend, Frank, into marrying her, and the women haven’t spoken since.

But when Edie learns after Frank’s funeral exactly how Maggie tricked Frank, she plots her sister’s murder, kills her with a bullet to the head, takes her sister’s place as one of Beverly Hills’ richest mavens, and tries desperately to become the woman she might have been had Frank married her. It all falls apart on her, but what a great time we have in watching.

This is not the first time Davis has played twins; she did before, in 1946’s “A Stolen Life.” But here, her over-the-top performance in this good film is side-splitting. Just to see her spar with herself is reason enough to see the film, but if you want a real treat, rent it to hear her sing. That’s right, Davis sings here (the song she warbles is “Shuffle Off to Buffalo”) and her voice is so bad, she sounds like a blender caught up in a bucket of yogurt.

The best of Davis’ films are now being rereleased on video. This one, certainly, is worth your time.

Grade B+

Christopher Smith, a writer and critic who lives in Brewer, reviews movies each Monday in the NEWS.