Monday, October 29, 2012

A Royal Affair (2012)

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)
A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)
Genre: Historical Drama
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
Language: Danish, English, German, French
Duration: 137 min.
Rating: 7.4
Summary:
An 18th century historical drama and epic romance about the love triangle between a German doctor, the queen of Denmark, and her deranged king.
A Royal Affair is a film directed by Nikolaj Arcel, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Rasmus Heisterberg, based on the novel Prinsesse af blodet by Bodil Steensen-Leth. It premiered at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival where it won two Silver Bears, for Best Screenplay and for Best Actor (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard). It is Denmark's official submission to the 85th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

A gorgeously crafted historical drama that depicts a fascinating period of Danish history, the 18th century reign of King Christian VII (Følsgaard, in a stunning feature debut), his marriage to Caroline Mathilde (Alicia Vikander), and her affair with the royal doctor, the radical Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen). The story is told in flashback by Caroline, who starts out as a naive young princess, raised all her life to become a queen, but quickly discovers her life is not much of a fairytale when she arrives in Denmark for her wedding.

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

It is assembled just as you would expect of any typical European period piece, where sumptuous costumes, grand locations (the Czech Republic standing in for 1700's Copenhagen), and exquisitely lit cinematography are a given. However, Arcel does a commendable job mixing in the film's historical detail, court intrigue, political power plays, and epic romance together with the solid production values into an extremely coherent and surprisingly entertaining whole. Even if it unavoidably suffers from the episodic pacing issues that arise from condensing so much time and so many characters into a feature length presentation, it stays focused and never gets too complicated or confusing to follow.

Arcel is helped greatly by a trio of inspired performances from the leads. Vikander, a rising Swedish star, may be the least glaringly impressive of the three, but she acquits herself well playing the British born Danish Queen. Her character goes through a lot of complex emotions and always remains believable. Mikkelsen, one of the best actors in any country, is intense as always, and anchors the film as the passionate and driven doctor. But it's Følsgaard who makes the biggest impression as the childlike and mentally unstable King. Though we never really get beyond the surface of his character, he is so spontaneous and unpredictable, it makes for an immensely watchable and captivating debut performance.

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

It's enjoyable and well put together, but it also does nothing to stand out. It looks, feels, and plays just like any of the hundreds of films that came before it, and despite having a few raw details, it never shakes off the impression that we are merely watching modern people playing dress up. So while these factors might make it more attractive to a wider audience—likely the reason why it got the nod from Denmark's selection committee over the far superior but less commercially appealing The Hunt—aside from the start of a promising career for Følsgaard, there really isn't anything new to see here.
Bonjour Tristesse

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

A Royal Affair • En Kongelig affære (2012)

14 comments:

Jessica said...

I think I liked this a little more than you did. Perhaps it's got to do with that for being a Scandinavian movie, the quality is impressive in the cinematogrphy, costumes, locations etc. We're not spoiled with movies of that size.
I thought the story is gripping enough, much more than just modern people dressing up.
One thing we can agree about though is the quality of Følsgaard. The other actors are good enough, but he steals the show. What a debut!

FrontRoomCinema said...

Not for me this one... One thing worse for me than Horror? Period Dramas of this era.... meh

d_4 said...

Yeah, I'll probably end up passing on this one. I might give it a watch if it's made really accessible but otherwise..

365 moviesandsongs365 said...

I'll probably follow your advice and go with The Hunt instead(even though the theme is familiar to Vinterberg's The Celebration) Is Mads Mikkelsen in all the Danish films? LOL He's also in my favorite from Denmark, After The Wedding. Curious about him playing Hannibal Lecter on TV, a tough act to follow Hopkins!

Bonjour Tristesse said...

As much as I tried, I just wasn't entirely convinced or immersed in it, but yeah, it was worth it to watch Følsgaard do his thing

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Haha. I totally understand.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Festen is very good, but I think The Hunt is a more refined and mature work overall, and yes, it will be interesting to see what MM does with that iconic character.

Mette said...

I think you're right about the "nothing new"-issue when generally speaking, but the film was a great accomplishment for Danish cinema because it had a very international look. We never had a historic film like that before.
But otherwise I agree with you about the film - however, I was so impressed by Foelsgaard that it was hard to think about the film's flaws right after seeing it. Thanks for letting me re-think that :)

Storyteller Teller said...

Seems we will also disagree on this one... lol! ;)

ruth said...

Funny that I was just talking about Mads yesterday and seems like everywhere I go I see a review with him in it, ahah. I want to see this one. I kind of like stories about royal family, and nice to see one on something other than the British monarch.

Squasher88 said...

I loved this movie, it's so impeccably crafted and the cast is amazing. Thought the social revolution was incredibly fascinating too. Re: The Hunt, it wasn't eligible for Oscar submission because it only opens in Demark in January 2013.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I guess that's a perspective I hadn't considered. It is impressive to see from Denmark, and I do hope it opens the doors for more stories from its rich history to be told.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

He does seem to be everywhere right now. No complaints from me though, because he always puts on a great show.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Ah, thanks for that info. That explains a lot. We'll see if it's strong enough to make it next time around.

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