In Eighteenth Century Denmark a new Queen (Alicia Vikander)
arrives from her native England
to meet her new King, Christian VII (Mikkel Følsgaard) for the first time. The
King instantly fails to live up to his reputation and the Queen is shunned by
him and infuriated by his temperament and apparent madness. What’s worse is
that Denmark’s outdated
censorship bans many of her favourite Enlightenment era books which are
returned to England.
In a small Danish colony in Germany,
two ex Court favourites persuade a local Doctor to apply to be the King’s
physician in the hope that they will once again gain favour with the Court. The
Doctor (Mads Mikkelsen) is an instant hit with the King but with few others.
The Queen slowly learns of their like-mindedness and they begin a slow seizure
of power from the lame duck Monarch as well as embarking on a risky sexual
affair.
It always annoys me when I miss a critically successful
overseas film at the cinema but I simply couldn’t find anywhere showing A Royal Affair on its theatrical
release. The film has since been Oscar Nominated and just the other day won a
couple of converted Kermode Awards so I was thrilled when my online DVD rental
service sent me the film. A Royal Affair
is pretty much all I was expecting of it. It’s a lavish and pretty costume
drama with a political heart and save for a run time I would happily shorten, I
really enjoyed it.
Denmark
and the entire Scandinavian region is one of the most progressive and liberal
areas of the world. I believe the film is important to Denmark as it shows the
country at a time when it lagged behind the rest of Europe and as one character
states, was stuck in the Middle Ages, ruled by faith and superstition. This
film is a mostly true account of a major upheaval in Danish society and
something which was happening all over Europe
around the same time. I found it really interesting to hear nobility discussing
Voltaire, peasant’s rights and atheism. It goes a little further than the
traditional frocks and scandal themes of a normal costume drama. The movie
focuses on two outsiders, the English Queen and German Doctor. Their life
outside Denmark,
which has become set in its ways, has opened their eyes to injustices and makes
them want to change things.
The remarkable rise of the King’s Doctor from small town
Physician to Court Doctor to King’s aid, to King’s advisor to pretty much King,
is a fascinating story and the audiences sympathies change as he progresses.
Early on I really liked Doctor Struensee but as he became more powerful and as
the power corrupted him, my thoughts on him changed. It was interesting to see
him in the early stages, battling for free press and a law that allowed anyone
to publish but once the publications turned on him he was happy to reinstate
censorship. This manipulation of the King also changed from wanting to make a
difference to wanting to size power. This silent coup takes place alongside a
relationship between himself and the young Queen who hates her husband and
surroundings and views the Doctor as an idealist, just like her. He is also one
of the few people at Court who she has anything in common with. Behind the
central story there is much posturing and political negotiation amongst people
who formally had power and who want it back. I found all of this really
interesting.
The production design is excellent and the palaces and
gardens look exactly as you’d expect. The costumes are also very good and the
direction and cinematography are a little less static than you’d expect from an
Eighteenth Century costume drama. A handheld camera makes you feel as though
you are part of the story and in the room rather than viewing the plot from
behind the red rope of your tour. The acting, along with the script, is where
the film really excels. Mads Mikkelsen is fantastic as the idealistic and
liberal Doctor. He has a huge screen presence and wonderful face which conveys
emotion while barely moving. He judges the smarminess of the role well and
balances it with charm which he uses to charm the Court and Queen. Alicia
Vikander is excellent, playing the role of the Queen in her second or third
language. Having seen her in Anna Karenina last year (in which she was also great), I assumed she was English
but during a recent interview I discovered she is Swedish. She is simply
fantastic as the young, bored, idealistic (and sexy) Queen. She and Mikkelsen
are both superb together. I also liked the portrayal of the possibly mad King
by Mikkel Følsgaard.
A Royal Affair
left me wanting to know more about the story and the characters and I left the
film heading for Wikipedia to discover more about the time and people. I don’t
see this as a criticism as the film created a desire for more knowledge but
still gave me a fantastic story full of politics and scandal and the political
aspects especially are close to my heart. I’m always happy to see anyone
denounce religion. Overall I really enjoyed A
Royal Affair and was rarely if ever bored with it. My emotions changed
constantly during the two hours and twenty minutes and the ending was terrific.
Mikkelson is great as usual and Vikander is a name to look out for in the
coming years.
8/10
GFR 7/10
Titbits
Vikander spoke no Danish before auditioning and learned her lines by asking a friend's mother to record them on her phone from which she could memorize them.
The 1935 film The Dictator focusses on the same events.
A Royal Affair is Denmark's ninth film to be Oscar nominated. It has won three times before.
I loved it. One of those films that I didn't know much about, and so it surprised me even more. I know exactly what you mean about heading home to wikipedia, that's exactly what we did. I'd only seen Mikkelsen as LeChiffre before and thought he was really excellent, and I agree about looking out for Vikander in the future as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the movie got a bit of recognition at the Oscars. That should help it to reach a wider audience.
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