Royal Affair

On the surface, this movie is exactly what the title says, you have an unhappily married queen who has an affair under the king's nose with someone in the King's court. However, the interesting aspect of this story is the context. It is the second half of the 18th century, liberal ideals of people like Rousseau and Voltaire spread across Europe, and threatens to break down the old Feudalistic regime.

The movie is not a documentary on the ruling of Christian the VII, and should not be regarded as such. After seeing it, I went to read about Christian the VII, and found that many details of the era and his regime were omitted in favor of not making a long tiresome movie. Instead the movie focuses on the relationships between the king, the queen and the physician and to their attempt to change the face of Denmark.

These three characters are played beautifully.

Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as King Christian is just superb and fun to watch, as a mad king he is always there even when not the focus of the camera.

Mads Mikkelsen as the physician acts for the most part as a calm yet stern person, however, when he does display emotions it has greater impact, and in my view portraits inner-struggle more effectively.

Alicia Vikander as the queen plays her two role quite well, whether it is the passion and stress that go with having a secret affair, or the audacity and charm that goes with fulfilling her royal duties.

Finally, in my view, the movie is another bell ring to remind us that even Denmark, 300 years ago was a country consumed by religion and fear, and that there are always those who believe in such a way of life.

A fantastic film about a country whose history is seldom portrayed, A Royal Affair is a historical drama set in the latter half of the 18th century in Denmark. An English girl is sent off to marry the Danish king, only to find out that he's not fully sane. In her loneliness she falls for the king's doctor, and they find they share not only amorous feelings for one another, but a passion for Enlightenment ideas and political reforms.

There are a few caricatures in this movie that keep me from giving it a higher score: the reactionary forces are pure, unalloyed evil; the reformers are probably far more liberal in thinking than would have been possible in that era; and the preaching against established religion is a bit thick. But otherwise, this is a gem of a movie with outstanding performances in all three key roles, particularly the doctor who is portrayed with an incredible intensity and realism. Also noteworthy is the king who is not quite sane yet not totally loony either; the acting here is frighteningly good and utterly convincing. Last but not least, the queen excels in showing real pathos and long-suffering endurance trapped in her destiny, and then comes alive beautifully in her relationship with the doctor.

As icing on the cake, costumes are sumptuous, period settings flawless, and the music is era-appropriate and delightfully arcane. Original music is also quite good, though most of the time one is so engrossed in the story that the music just vanishes. Movie is almost all in Danish with English subtitles, and I felt the size/font choice for the titles was too big, too pushy, you never quite forget that you're reading titles.

This is a tale of exploration of the darker side of the human experience: what does it mean to be sane, how can a divinely ordained monarch be deprived of his wits, to what lengths will a person go to promote his/her progeny into power, are the "unwashed masses" really grateful to those who try to emancipate them? This movie (and its three main characters) will haunt you for many days.

"A Royal Affair" is a Danish/Swedish/Czech production about the reign of 18th century King Christian VII of Denmark, his Welsh wife and a German physician whose progressive ideas shake Denmark's conservative ruling class to its foundations. As best I can discern the film tries to keep true to actual history with some embellishments added concerning the role of the Queen in the political machinations along with some reasonable speculation about a possible menage a trois. The screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg does a nice job of capturing the unusual atmosphere of life at a court governed by a mentally unstable monarch who's little more than a nuisance puppet of the nobility and the church. In the middle of all that is the young English Queen trapped in a loveless marriage. She is also disturbed by the unwillingness of her adopted country to accept the ideas of the Enlightenment then circulating around Europe. Under the direction of Nikolaj Arcel "A Royal Affair" is an effective recreation of a bygone age yet one in which we can see our contemporary quagmire between those who advocate change and those condemning it. Mikkel Folsgaard is excellent as the King. He never descends to caricature and is both powerful and pitiable. Mads Mikkelsen is compelling as Dr. Johann Struensee a noble but flawed man given a rare opportunity to improve the lot of the lower classes who are suspicious of him as a foreigner usurping the state. Alicia Vikander is Caroline Mathilde a Welsh princess sent to Denmark in an arranged marriage of noble households with no idea of what's in store for her. This is very good intelligent costume drama that should please fans of the genre. Well worth seeing.

This was a magnificent film, with stunning performances by the star cast and the supporting roles.

I am not an unconditional fan of Mads Mikkelsen, but he really was strong and convincing in this role.

And one could easily forgive the good doctor for falling in love with Queen Caroline, as portrayed by the lovely Alicia Vikander.

And one even had sympathy for poor old Christian in the end. I was beginning to wonder whether he was quite as insane as people thought him to be. There seemed to be a genuine friendship between him and Dr Struensee also. Had things gone slightly differently, one could have imagined them forming a happy and successful ménage à trois, and living happily ever after.

And the villains were truly villainous :-)

(I spotted a few familiar faces from Forbydelsen I and other places, including Søren Malling (Jan Mayer ), and Bent Mejding who was the standing mayor (playing a not dissimilar sort of character)

A very interesting and surprising historical lesson as well.

Highly recommended.

I had the great fortune to be invited to attend the World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this evening of this wonderful film -and opportunities like that don't come often.

A Royal Affair is Oscar level material in many respects. The screenplay, directing and photography are all superb but the performance of Mikkel Følsgaard as Christian VII of Denmark was perfection. It is so difficult to act a madman acting as if he were sane and I cannot believe any actor taking an Oscar this year could have put up a better performance. Mikkel got the loudest cheer from the audience and he thoroughly deserved it.

The plot revolves around the machinations of power behind the throne of a simpleton monarch. Christian may be King but he simply wants to play like a child. He is married and fathers a son quite brutally but he loves his dog more than his family. And so a German Doctor is called to treat him. Christian befriends his physician and leaves more and more power in the hands of this foreign commoner. And then the Doctor falls in love with the Queen....

It's all true and I won't tell more than that. Just go and see it as soon as you can. It puts Hollywood and Bollywood both straight into the dust bin. Classic drama, brilliant script and a piece of thespian-ism that puts Olivier to task. Just brilliant.