Review XXXVIII
An kongelig affære (2012)
Today we're going to take a look at Nikolaj Arcel's En kongelig affaere, or as it is known in English, A Royal Affair. This is Denmark's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for this year's awards. I actually wanted to watch another film from Mads Mikkelsen, who stars in this film alongside Alicia Vikander and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, but I found this film instead in a search, so I decided to watch it.
This film is a historical drama, but I don't need to provide a history lesson because everything is explained in the film. The film begins with a young woman, Caroline Matilda of Great Britain (Alicia Vikander), who belonged to the Royal Family in Britain, explaining that she would be marrying Christian VII of Denmark (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), the King of Denmark. She has great hope that, while she has never met the man, she will be able to love him unconditionally. Unfortunately, the first day reveals his mentally unstable nature and cruelty to her. The two live in great dismay in relation to each other, and while Christian goes off to brothels to satisfy his thirst for alcohol and women, Caroline stays at home tending to her son, Frederick. When Christian falls ill while touring Germany, he acquires a personal physician, Dr. Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen). Christian is not the only one to take a liking to the doctor, but Caroline as well. Soon Caroline and Johann Struensee begin an affair, while all three aim to change the way Denmark is run politically... for the time being.
Again, because this is a historical drama, I can only criticise the plot to an extent. I will go ahead and say that I thought it was wonderfully put together. The film creates a great atmosphere and really introduces the characters. Given that is it two hours and a quarter, it seems almost like a given, but it should be noted that movies have been longer and established little characterisation in protagonists. I digress... The movie shows how Caroline Mathilda really did wish to have a happy marriage at first, but within such a small amount of time, she is turned off from him. When Struensee is first brought to her acquiantance, she is also turned off from him as he appears to encourage Christian's behaviour. However, after their initial meeting, when the two realise they share common radicalist idealogies, they form a bond. It was strange hearing that these ideas stemmed in the 18th century. Apparently Caroline Mathilda even wore male clothing (as read in the Wikipedia article about her) to demonstrate her prominent ideas. Now that I found very interesting! Anyway, the film took an interesting piece of history and was able to portray it well on film.
Mikkel Boe Følsgaard does a great job of showing a childish man who doesn't seem completely aware just how much power he has. He reminded me of Wolfgang Mozart, as portrayed by Tom Hulce, in Amadeus, and with good reason. While Mozart wasn't mentally disabled as Christian VII was (according to sources, that is), Mozart never really... grew up. And Mikkel Boe Følsgaard shows this side of Christian VII, but also with a hint of being greatly disturbed. I really liked his performance. Same with Alicia Vikander, who delivered a great performance of disgust, anguish, love, and happiness. As for Mads Mikkelsen, I thought he did a great job, though sometimes I found he didn't exactly portray his emotions as well as he could have. It's quite possible it was just him being in his character and trying to keep everything in control, but other times he seemed so serious when you think there would be something else there. His perfomance was overall really good, but there were a few times when it flickered a bit, in my opinion.
I really enjoyed the film, and so I'm going to give a rating of eight stars on ten. If you enjoy historical dramas that are romantic, you're bound to enjoy this. I liked that it followed a letter Caroline Mathilda was writing to her children (not a spoiler, it shows this right at the beginning), and the film was enjoyable. Oscar worthy? I wouldn't think so, but I have other films to watch to see to that.
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