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Directed by:
Nikolaj Arcel 
Written by:
Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg , from the novel Princess af blodet by Bodil Steensen-Leth
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| Released: |
2012 |
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| Genre: |
DRAMA
ROMANCE
COSTUME
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| Origin: |
Denmark |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
128 |
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Denmark’s dramatic renaissance continues. |
Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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Denmark is enjoying a creative renaissance, with top-class TV dramas such as The Killing and Borgen, and the rise of directors such as Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive). Despite isolated hits such as Babette’s Feast (1987) and Festen (1998), the current revival started seven years ago, with a brave political drama called King’s Game, the most gripping depiction yet of the way spinning, leaking and lying to the public have come to dominate democratic politics.
That film was superbly written by Nicolas Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, and ably directed by Arcel.
With A Royal Affair, the same talented duo has turned to the eighteenth century, to examine one of the most famous illicit liaisons in European history.
There are echoes of Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere in the moving tale of Caroline Mathilde (luminously played by star-of-the-future Alicia Vikander, pictured right), a young Englishwoman sent to marry the feeble-minded King Christian VII of Denmark (a Berlin Festival award-winning performance by Mikkel Boe Folsgaard).
Her subsequent affair with the King’s German physician (Mads Mikkelsen, an actor of immense authority, pictured left) was not just a sex scandal. It dramatized the clash between the values of the Enlightenment and the religio-political establishment.
The film isn’t hard going, for the chemistry between Vikander and Mikkelsen is excellent, while the dotty Christian’s hopeless attempts at lovemaking and petulant demands for a “fun queen” offer light relief. “The world is full of princesses,” he grumbles, “and I get stuck with the grumpy one”.
We British may draw parallels with our own royal family, which give it a cheeky topicality. But really this is an intelligent, realistic costume drama of the kind we rarely see.
The last one on offer was The King’s Speech, and this deserves to reach the same mature audience. Though not on an epic scale, it is a thoughtful costume drama that can stand comparison with Fred Zinnemann’s A Man For A Seasons and David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago.
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, Mikkel Boe Felsgaard 
