Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære)

Monday, December 10, 2012

A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære) - Review

A Royal Affair

Drama | History | Romance
2 hr 18 min
in Danish ~ English subtitles

Rated: R Sexual Content and Some Violent Images. Information for parents: Common Sense Media says OK for kids 16+ Read More
Grade: A-

Director: Nikolaj Arcel

Writers: Bodil Steensen-Leth (novel), Rasmus Heisterberg (screenplay), Nikolaj Arcel (screenplay)
Stars: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard | See full cast and crew

A ROYAL AFFAIR is the true story of an ordinary man who wins the queen's heart and starts a revolution. Centering on the intriguing love triangle between the ever more insane Danish King Christian VII, the royal physician who is a man of enlightenment and idealism Struensee and the young but strong Queen Caroline Mathilda, A ROYAL AFFAIR is the gripping tale of brave idealists who risk everything in their pursuit of freedom for their people.(c) Magnolia Pictures

I confess, even though I have Danish ancestry, that I knew next to nothing about this period in Danish history. I was aware of the inter-royal marriages of the various European courts and I really enjoyed learning more of the nitty-gritty details and the political fallout. This is an excellent historical drama, very well made, superb production values, beautifully photographed, directed and acted.

When you tackle an historical subject pacing is always and issue. We are, in our modern, technical world of immediacy, not used to and therefore tend to be impatient with the slow pace of earlier eras. This story takes place about the same time as the American Revolution, it took a long time for things to happen way back then, there was no internet, no email, no texting or twittering, these people had wait for a message carried by hand to be delivered. There was a lot of ceremony, tradition and waiting in the 18th century, but Nikolaj Arcel has done a great job of keeping the story moving, at 2 hr. 18 min. I never once thought, 'when is this going to end'.

To be sure, the subject matter is adult. There is much to deal with love, sex, marital relationships, jealousy, obligations, appearances, unfulfilled expectations, fidelity, politics, revolution, revenge, treachery, torture and punishment. In my opinion A Royal Affair is one of the better films of the year.

Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg started the writing process by reading the 1999 novel The Visit of the Royal Physician by Per Olov Enquist, which is based on the events surrounding Johann Friedrich Struensee's time at the Danish court. The exclusive film rights for the novel were already sold to a company which had been struggling for over a decade to make a large-scale adaptation in English, and did not want to sell the rights to Zentropa. Research continued and the film was eventually credited as based on Bodil Steensen-Leth's erotic novel Prinsesse af blodet, which tells the story from the perspective of the queen, Caroline Mathilde.

The film's perspective and characterisation did still remain highly influenced by Enquist's version, in particular in the portrayal of Struensee as an idealistic promoter of freedom of speech, the romantic view of the royal court as an ironical charade and the role of the queen as a revolutionary partner-in-crime to Struensee. To avoid conflicts about rights, Enquist was contacted to clarify some instances of what he had made up and what was based on documented events, and a person was employed specifically to compare the screenplay and the novel to guarantee that they were dissimilar enough.

The film was produced by Zentropa and is a co-production among Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic. It had a budget of 46 million Danish kroner (about $7.9 million). Before settling on the final title, the film had the production titles Dronningen og livlægen ("The queen and the royal physician") and Caroline Mathildes år ("Caroline Mathilde's years").

Mikkel Følsgaard won the Silver Bear for Best Actor and Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg won the award for Best Script at the Berlin Film Festival.

Cast