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.

Within the last decades, Denmark has become the leading film country around the Baltic Sea, several films have been praised in major festivals around the globe. En kongelig affære is a pleasant supplement to the succession. Based on real events and persons, the film focuses on broader issues than a simple love between 2 powerful persons. Despite some not-so-good characteristic features of the doctor Struensee, his appearance in the Danish royal and executive circles changed the country thoroughly. And today, Denmark is one of the most progressive countries in the whole world.

The cast is evenly strong - not the leading roles only, but supporting performances as well. Mads Mikkelsen is great as usual, irrespective of the role, but the biggest surprise to me was Mikkel Følsgaard (as Christian VII) - I had never heard about him before; as he managed to win the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival, I am sure he will be used often both in Denmark and internationally.

Well, the total length could have been less, 2 hour 15 minutes included some protracted scenes. Nevertheless, the film is recommended to all those fond of historical palace dramas.

You could dismiss this film as a Danish history lesson but it is more than that. It is a love story with an improbable background in a rather gloomy setting, the Danish Court of the late 18th century. Mad (or at least seriously disturbed) King Christian VII (Mikkel Folsgaard - superbe) marries 16 year old English princess Caroline (Alicia Vikander) who happens to be George III's sister). He prefers the company of his dog and mistress to her. It is not surprising that Caroline falls for Johann Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen) who becomes the king's personal physician on the strength of his knowledge of Shakespeare (especially Hamlet). The king is, as they say, easily led, and for a year or so Sturensee, despite being German, has a fine time as de facto ruler enacting liberal measures such as the abolition of serfdom and the repeal of censorship laws, not to mention free smallpox inoculations. But the forces of reaction led by the king's stepmother gather. It was surprising to learn that 18th century Denmark was such a backward society.

Mads Mikkelsen gives a nuanced performance – 'quiet intensity' in fact, and Alicia Vikander is equally intense. They are a serious couple imbued with the ideals of the 18th century Enlightenment but their passion is physical as well as intellectual. Unfortunately their ideals are a little advanced for Denmark of the 1770s despite support from writers such as Voltaire. The local book-burners led by Hoegh-Guldberg (David Dencik) are not swayed by argument of course.

The production is full of atmosphere. The castles are suitably gloomy and there's plenty of medieval squalor beyond the castle gate. Much of the action takes place in winter which adds to the chilly atmosphere. The aristocracy are suitably heartless and the peasants downtrodden. The king provides some zany (if not quite authentic) moments, appointing his Great Dane to his council and ordering Struensee to make Caroline a "fun queen".

This is quite a long movie at 140 minutes yet is enthralling from start to finish. Even though you can guess the ending you are swept along by the story and the performances. You can see why the audiences at Cannes loved it.

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

"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.