Excellent photography and set decoration

I like analyzing less than stellar films, and this one has plenty to analyze in that respect. It does have decent sets though... but I cannot say the same for photography. There are plenty of scenes (e.g. stairs) where actors faces are in complete darkness, or where they are obstructed by objects in foreground in an error-like way. For instance, towards the end there is a scene when Victoria and Albert are lying on a bed, him being closer too the camera, and his hair looking gray. However, the impression that his hair is gray comes from some white, completely out of focus object in the foreground. For a moment I thought I was looking either at a scene set far in the future, or that he grew old overnight from stress.
Somehow, I have a feeling that the director is more to blame for such screwups though as he decides where he wants the camera to be.