A Royal Affair

This magnificent Danish historical drama, directed by Nikolaj Arcel is a defnite must see! It premiered on February 16th 2012 in Berlin, during Berlinale, and it took the festival by storm! The screenplay and Mikkel Boe Folsgaard were awarded with Silver Bears, and the distribution rights have been sold to many countries. About the premiere I already wrote in the post about Mads Mikkelsen, so check it out if you like, and here you can read my review in Polish (posted also before in post entitled "About Mads"): "Kochanek królowej" stopklatka and in English, below the poster from the movie.

A princess and a medic

Danish cinema has been experiencing a renaissance for some time now. In a country where there are five and a half million people, and only about twenty feature films are produced annually, the film industry has been able to uncover such brilliant gems as Lars von Trier, Anders Thomas Jensen, Thomas Vinterberg, Nicolas Winding Refn, Lone Scherfig, Susanne Bier, Christoffer Boe, Nikolaj Arcel, Mads Mikkelsen, Ulrich Thomsen or Connie Nielsen. All very active professionally, and most importantly, frequently cooperating on film sets in Denmark, among friends. A true phenomenon. There is no coincidence in the Danish cinema, because when they tell their stories, the viewer pauses, carefully listens and observes the developments of the action, which is almost always fascinating, unpredictable, unpretentious, unique. Danes are also fortunate in approaching historical themes. Four years ago, they produced a huge box office hit in whole Scandinavia, a war drama called “Flammen & Citronen,” which tells the story of two members of the Danish resistance movement, eliminating conspirators in cold blood. In “The Royal Affair” (“En Kongelige Affaere”) the Danes go back not for decades, but centuries, as the action is tied in the eighteenth century.

To the court of King Christian VII comes a young, talented and beautiful, only fifteen-year-old British Princess Caroline Mathilde, whom he is going to marry soon. The princess (phenomenally played by Alicia Vikander, justly declared one of the Shooting Stars in Berlin in 2011) soon realizes, that from now on, her life is going to be far from the fairy tale with a happy ending, for which she had hoped. The king (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard, awarded for this role with the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 2012, his full-length debut) turns out to be uncouth figurehead, devoid of tact and good manners, seeking entertainment at all times. He does not intend to maintain the appearance of happiness, even at the side of the young and beautiful foreign bride. To make matters worse, as time passes, it becomes known that Christian is constantly worried about his position and authority in the court, as well as among the people. He willingly lands his frustrations on the queen Caroline Mathilde, not without considerable damage to his own mental health. To save the rest of the common sense and repair his weakened health, the king sends for a physician from Germany, Dr. Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen). Initially, Christian finds a kindred spirit in the doctor, as Struensee believes that one should not inhibit impulses, but on the contrary – frequent satisfaction of desires can only have positive consequences. After hours, however, the doctor actively supports revolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment and is willing to share his ideas with the young queen, for whom serious discussions with a mature man certainly are a nice and eagerly awaited change. They don’t even notice when innocent exchanges of thoughts turn into a fiery romance and true love. And all this behind the back of the unpredictable king, who gradually goes mad.

By reading just the sole description of “A Royal Affair,” one might get the impression that it's a pretty trivial and typical love story, like many others, only dressed in costume of the period. Perhaps it would be accurate observation, if it wasn’t for a great script written by Nikolaj Arcel (script of “Men who hate women” - "Man som hatar kvinnor"), in cooperation with Rasmus Heisterberg (the script for “A Royal Affair” has been awarded at the Berlinale 2012) and of course for the wonderful actors between whom one can really feel unique chemistry and unfeigned emotions. Of course, there is still a huge difference between the flawless and incredibly charismatic Mikkelsen and his two young co-actors Vikander and Folsgaard, but they all deserve highest praise. With those three, the film reaches highest grounds and becomes the ultimate antidote to the banal romantic comedies made in USA. So, yes, Danish cinema definitely is experiencing a renaissance. And finally there loom some successors of Mikkelsen on the horizon.