A Royal Affair (2012)

"A Royal Affaire" (2012 release from Denmark; 137 min.) brings the true story of Caroline Mathilda (played by Alicia Vikander), the English teenage princess who married King Christian VII of Denmark (played by Mikkel Følsgaard) in the early 1770s. Caroline's dreams of a fairy tale-like marriage are soon destroyed when it turns out that the King is utterly insane. After the royal couple's first child is born, Caroline becomes attracted to, and eventually becomes romantically involved with, the King's personal physician, Struensee (played by Mads Mikkelsen). As it happens, Struensee's role is much larger than just being the King's physician, as he has substantial influence over the King's political actions as well. Soon Struensee and Caroline are using the King as a pawn to advance their political ideas of freedom of speech and other such "radical" ideas. To tell you more of the plot would ruin your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Several comments: first and foremost, kudos to the producers who worked with a budget of 46 million Danish Krone (about US$ 8 million, mere peanuts in Hollywood terms) and bring us a grand scale historical drama, the likes of which we don't get to see made very often in Europe. The overall feeling of the movie is quite epic as a result. Second, also kudos to Mads Mikkelsen for his portrayal of the German physician Struensee, it is quite the tour-de-force.

This movie premiered at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, to great acclaim, and rightfully so. I saw this movie on a recent home visit to Belgium, and the particular theatre and screening where I saw this was well attended. I think this movie has some legs, and it will be interesting to see hw it will do in the US market as well. Meanwhile, if you like historical dramas or are simply in the mood for a quality foreign movie, "A Royal Affair" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This is a Danish, Swedish and Czech co production about the life of god old mad King Christian VII of Denmark. Set in the Eighteenth Century when he needs a bride and a suitable wife is found in the English court in the form of Welsh, Caroline Mathilde played beautifully by Alicia Vikander (`Anna Kerenina'). When she arrives at court it doesn't take too long to realise that her betrothed is a bit of a cad. He has beastly table manners, rude as I don't know what and is as much fun in bed as a randy cockroach so love was never going to blossom. But she manages to give him an heir anyway.

Meantime's the somewhat eccentric King goes on a tour, or progress, of Europe where he finds himself in dire need of a physician. Enter Dr. Johan Freidrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen `Casino Royale') who is by all accounts a silver tongued charmer. But apart from that appendage he also has dangerous ideas in the new thinking department yes he is part of the enlightenment movement that is sweeping across Europe. Ideas expounded and fuelled by the writings of Rousseau and Voltaire has meant a new imagination has taken hold and Queen Caroline is in for a bit of enlightening herself. So when the King decides she is too serious and that with the help of a physician she may improve her temper, Dr Struensee jumps at the chance like a school boy up for a game of conkers. What ensues is passion in the bedroom at court and intrigue that will set them on a collision course with all vested interests in Denmark.

This is a sumptuous production that gets right into the very fabric of the times and is as visually rewarding as entertaining from a plot perspective. The acting is effortless in its execution, so much so that you are swept along with the entire thing. This is a film where you just lap it up. The cinematography is just brilliant and everything seems understated by what is actually unfolding on the screen. Director Nikolaj Arcel (`The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' 2009) has taken a truly unique script and made something remarkable and all the more so because of the collaboration involved. It is in Danish, English, German and French with good sub titles even though they are all in white which causes a few problems but I managed fairly well and in no way irritating enough to detract from what is a great film experience truly exceptional.

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Yet again another fantastic film from Denmark with over two hours of absorbing drama. Period dramas from the 18th Century are not my favourite pieces but this certainly held me captive.

The little known story of King Christian of Denmark who is a little insane and his marriage to his English queen who succumbs to his German physician Straunsee is wonderfully told with excellent attention to period detail.

The film is mostly in Danish with English subtitles although there a couple of scenes in English at the beginning of the film.

Viewers of recent Danish TV drama acquisitions will recognise a number of faces in this film including Søren Malling (Torben Friis Borgen / Jan Meyer The Killing), Søren Spanning (PM Lars Hesselboe Borgen / Kornerup The Killing), Bent Mejding (Mayor Poul Bremer The Killing) as well as David Dencik and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard who have both appeared in Those Who Kill. The star of the piece Mads Mikkelsen plays his role as the German physician very well. Mads can also be seen in Danish series Unit One out on DVD in Jnuary 2013.

If you like Danish films or have an interest in European history then this is ideal for you. Well worth a rewatch.

It is also interesting to see how different the role of Christiansborg Palace has become from the 18th Century to the 21st Century Borgen as we see it today with PM Birgitte Nyborg.

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A ROYAL AFFAIR at first looks like its going to be a film that focuses on the marriage between Caroline Mathilde and the Danish King Christian VII, but the film is not really about this arranged marriage so much as it is about the friendship that develops between the Danish king and a small town German physician, Johann Streunsee, who Christian meets while on a European tour. Virtually everyone in the Danish court treats the king as if he were suffering from some form of mental illness, but whether they really believe he is mentally ill or whether this is merely a convenience that allows them to ignore his political will and exert their own, is never altogether clear. Whatever it is that the king lacks, however, is filled perfectly by the German doctor who seems to be the only person who has ever made any attempt to get to know him. The two get along wonderfully. With Streunsee as a companion and tutor, Christian becomes far more sociable and far more confident in his own opinions and thus far more effective as a king. This friendship is by far the most interesting and moving relationship in the film. So when the doctor begins an affair with the King's beautiful wife, Mathilde (who remains only a partially developed character here), we are intrigued but this relationship, the royal affair, remains relatively secret to all but a few while Struensee and Christian together transform Denmark into an Enlightened country (or at least come very near to doing so). However, since this is the 1760's, the Danish nobility feels threatened by Struensee's authority/power which they righfully perceive to be undermining their own authority/power, so they decide to retaliate to save themselves and the country (or at least their version of it) before its too late. "The Royal Affair" is just the scandal they need to turn the people (and perhaps Christian himself) against the "dangerous foreigner" Struensee. Its an excellent and true story but it is based on two separate sources (one that focuses on the doctor's story and the other that focuses on the queen's) and the film never completely resolves its twin interests and this results is some narrative confusion: The film is framed as the queen's story (beginning and ending with the writing and delivery of her memoirs to her children) but the bulk of the film is dedicated to the doctor's story (and we are much more invested in his story than we are in hers by films end as he is the more remarkable character played by the more remarkable actor). Viewers will likely forgive the film this minor flaw as its such a sumptuous and intriguing Enlightenment ride. And I suspect the thing that will linger in the viewer's mind days after the film is over is not the affair (which was fairly generic) but the relationship between the lonely king and his remarkable friend.

Must-See Danish Cinema:

Carl Dreyer, Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Vampyr (1932)

Lars Von Trier, Breaking the Waves (1997), Melancholia (2012)

Thomas Vinterberg, The Celebration (1998)

Susanne Bier, In a Better World (2010) *Best Foreign Language Film Oscar Winner

Want A Royal Affair (2012) Discount?

A Royal Affair is a fabulous dramatization of a true story about Caroline Mathilde, a younger sister of King George III of England who was wed to the unstable King Christian of Denmark at the ages of 15 and 17 respectively. If this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, then you know where this story is headed.

The young Queen quickly finds out that she has married a bit of a whack-job, but endears herself to Denmark by quickly providing a royal heir.

Her loony King Christian then announces that he is leaving for an extended tour of Europe, to which she replies the Danish equivalent of "So? What do I care?". Oh, did I forget to mention that this film is in Danish with English subtitles? They would actually have been speaking German in the Danish Court of the time, but it's a Danish film so let's not quibble about that.

Christian brings back a certain German Dr. Johann Struensee with him from his Grand Tour, who as well as befriending and acting as a calming influence on the young King, brings some radical notions to Denmark like smallpox vaccination, freedom for serfs and the abolition of torture. He is able to use the King's power to drag Denmark into the "modern era" of The Enlightenment. This film takes place around the time of the American and French Revolutions to give some context.

Dr. Struensee finds a kindred spirit for his progressive ideas in the young Queen and, well, let's just say that the history books seem to agree that her second child, a daughter, was fathered by the good doctor!

If you enjoy a gorgeous, slow political romance then this is your film. Just make sure you see it with someone who is also into that kind of film. The Squire (my husband) was OK with this one but only just! :)

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