Victoria and Abdul: dir Stephen Frears (2017)

A beautifully shot, beautifully acted account of the friendship between Queen Victoria and a young Indian civil servant who became a powerful and influential figure in her court. Stephen Frears explores questions of race, religion, power, and the farce of Empire through the prism of a highly unusual and deeply moving friendship; he gets excellent performances from Ali Fazal and the the always reliable Judi Dench in a film that is funny, poignant and pertinent.