A Royal Affair

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.

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.

I saw this last night and its been on my mind a lot since then..

What a fantastic movie!!, i went in with high expectations, as i had only read very positive things about it, and I was definitely not disappointed, what a beautiful, sad and touching story Great acting overall, mads Mikkelsen is always good, and this is one of his best roles in my opinion, Alicia wikander was beautiful as the young queen, but the real star of this movie has to be Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as Christian VII, Wow!!, what a great actor, his portrayal of the mentally ill king was superb, he really made me sympathize with Christian, he may have been of his nutter and mean at times, but deep down, I think he was a good guy, but he was a very insecure young man, who didn't know how to behave properly, and who couldn't deal with the obligation of being king, he was misunderstood, and I felt really bad for him at times, I really like the portrayal of the relationship between the King and struensee, they were really very good friends/companions, and struensee was like a father to Christian.

The costumes were also beautiful, I love fashion in that period, and this movie had some beautiful clothes to dwell on.

It was about time my country did a movie on our royal history, and now they have, and the outcome is better then i could have ever expected, just beautiful, Hollywood couldn't have done it better, as a Dane I take pride in our danish (royal)history.

Go and see it!!, you wont be sorry

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.

Love can lead to transformation yet the force of greed and the lack of political skills can bring anyone down even though you have the best intentions and act for the "greater good".

It does not happen very often that I come out of the cinema and completely shut up. It didn't feel like I was listening to a non-English dialogue. Danish felt like a familiar language ... and it was beautiful in this movie.

Though not with splendid clothes like Marie Antoinette, no intense intrigues, no large battle scenes, it was one of the best historic films I have ever seen. Everything was kept "small", yet with so much feeling that I could not take sides with any of the 3 main characters. Fair enough, the greedy and backward upper-class angered me much; just can't stand stupidity, especially when it holds back progress and the aim for improvements.