Ehrengarde ou l'Art de la séduction

This was a witty, delightful romp, reminiscent of Shakespeare and with beautifully fantastical design and costumes.

Its European humour will be lost on many, but I laughed and chuckled my way through this gorgeous, gentle comedy from the Danes.

Based on the novel by Karen Blix, it is a tale of lust, beauty, honour and devotion. It's set in a fictional Danish court in the 1830s and makes great use of real-life Royal locations, provided by Queen Margrethe II.

I loved it even more after watching the behind the scenes doco, where I learnt the Queen was the driving creative force behind the production. She is utterly delightful.

In this adaptation of a Karen Blixen novel, Cazotte (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) discusses the art of seduction with The Grand Duchess (Sidse Babett Knudsen) while painting her. They hatch the idea of him teaching her shy son, Prince Lohar (Emil Aron Dorph) how to seduce Princess Ludmilla (Emilie Kroyer Koppel). The plan works and the young couple gets married.

However, a scandalous situation breaks out that requires the couple to hide from society for a few months in the country. Cazotte, who has been fancying lovely and proper young woman Ehrengard (Alice Esther Bier Zandén) for sometime now, suggests that she keeps Ludmilla company while the couple is in hiding.

Cazotte makes a bet with the Grand Duchess that he can seduce Ehrengard during this period of seclusion.

The conniving pair could not imagine that Ehrengard is not as naive and dumb as they think she is. What she does would leave a lasting impact on Cazotte and society.

This is pleasing to the eyes thus manages to hold the attention while the viewer keeps wondering what the story is leading up to. The twist at the end would leave the viewer chuckling.

But anyone with a broad mind and a sense of fun will find this film a total delight. I approached it warily, sensing a tired old BBC-flavoured costume drama along the lines of Persuasion or Pride and Prejudice (the more recent version: the earlier one with Colin Firth was genial), but two minutes in and the sight of the Arch Duchess recomposing herself for her portrait after making a failed grab at the artist and I was captivated. Dialogues are spot on: timeless and utterly convincing; acting is flawless across the board; photography is ravishing. What more do you want? Answer, I want more from this team and this director.

I was expecting the worst due to some bad reviews I read about prior to seeing it. And I normally abandon a movie within the 15 Minutes but I truly enjoyed this satire. It's a good mix of culture, art, history, romance and comedy. It's for people with a good sense of humor and it was light I must say that the cinematography and jartwork done by the Danish Queen Margrethe was phenomenal. I wasn't really sure whether it was filmed in Denmark because there were some mountains in the background. But the art scene is lovely. The twists in the plot was hilarious as well. I was definitely entertained. This is not a serious dramatic historical thing, but an entertaining piece of romance, comedy, in a danish fashion.

IN A NUTSHELL: When a painter is asked to teach a royal prince about love and romance, the plan backfires, leading to a potential scandal that could threaten the line of succession.

The film is an adaptation of a famous novel in Denmark by Karen Blixen. You might recognize her name from another famous book she wrote "Out of Africa", which was also turned into an award-winning film in 1985! But that's not all. Her book "Babette's Feast" was also turned into a popular film in 1997.

THINGS I LIKED: I had never seen any of the actors in anything before, and I really liked them all. The talented cast includes Alice Bier Zanden, Emil Aron Dorph, Mikkel boe Folsgaard, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Emilie Kroyer Koppel, Jacob Lohmann, Sara-Marie Maltha, and more.

The European setting is extremely charming. I love traveling to beautiful places in movies! Of course, the kingdom represented in the story is fictional.

We see some beautiful gardens, landscapes, and interiors. The cinematographer, Jan Pallesen, does a great job.

If you really love this movie, you'll be happy to know that Netflix has created a documentary called "Lifting the Veil: Behind the Scenes of Ehrengard." It features interviews with Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and director Bille August as they talk about their meticulous attention to the sets and costumes of the movie. One thing the documentary doesn't quite explain is how and why the current Queen of Denmark got involved with the film though. In the documentary, she appeared to really love working on this project. At the end of the feature film, we see several decoupage designs for the landscapes and room interiors that inspired the movie's locations. Those were all personally handmade by the Queen! She was also involved in designing the costumes years before the movie was filmed. I thought they were beautiful and terrific! How fun for the Queen to have a creative outlet in this project. I wonder if the Danish citizens were annoyed that she was spending so much time away from her important royal work.

Everything about the movie is very fairytale-like.

The musical theme is lovely.

The ending attempts to connect this story with a famous story as an origin story.

On a personal note, one of my sons is dating a girl from Denmark. We've had dinner with her family many times and absolutely adore all of them. We even celebrated Christmas with them and got to join in on the fun Danish tradition of singing and dancing around the Christmas tree. They speak Danish at home all of the time, so it was fun to watch the documentary in Danish with English subtitles. I learned cognates for words our languages have in common: day, interior, exterior, masculine, special, and Renaissance.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Woke viewers probably won't like the old-fashioned traditions of gender roles and romance, claiming the film condones "toxic masculinity." The studio's movie description makes you think the bulk of the movie is about how the painter teaches the prince to seduce women but that's not the case at all. The bulk of the movie is what happens after the prince falls in love and marries a young woman.

There is a serious plot hole at the end of the movie involving what would have been the natural aftermath of events. No spoilers here though!

In the beginning, the viewer assumes the protagonist is a certain "someone"; however, in the end, the reveal of the true hero might surprise you.

It's supposed to be funny that so much deception is involved in the story. In that regard, the story felt very juvenile and shallow. With such gorgeous set designs, costumes, and locations, I had hoped for something a bit more sophisticated.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Kids will be bored.

We see pencil sketches of nude women.

An older, married royal woman talks about sleeping with a younger, single man.

We see a nude woman in a lake from the rear in the distance.

Talk of premarital sexual relations that result in a baby.

We see a single man and married woman tumbling around in bed (skin is covered)

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