Movie review: 'A Royal Affair' places ideals over passion
With a backdrop of 18th century Denmark, an unorthodox relationship triangle forms around an oblivious King Christian VII, but it's driven by an ardor more philosophical than carnal.
November 08, 2012|By Kenneth Turan, Los
Angeles Times Film Critic
"A Royal Affair" is not as racy as it sounds. This highly polished costume drama is exceptionally well-made and a model of intelligent restraint, but it is also unapologetically earnest and a bit on the bloodless side.
For though the illicit physical passion implied by the title is definitely part of the story, this Danish film (the country's best foreign-language Oscar entry) is more about a transgressive couple's zeal for freedom and political reform, which while noble and involving, is not exactly barn-burner material.
As co-written by Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel and directed by Arcel, "Affair" sticks fairly close to the historical record as it stars the protean Mads Mikkelsen as a German physician who ends up the power behind the throne at a critical moment in 18th century Danish history.
Before we meet the good doctor, however, we are introduced to Caroline Mathilda (Alicia Vikander), a British noblewoman (the sister of King George III, in fact) who was married to Denmark's King Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) in 1766.
Though Caroline was hoping for a storybook romance, this was far from the case. From her first sighting of her future husband, glimpsed hiding behind a tree and shown to be more involved with his enormous dog than any human being, it is clear that the king is more deranged than regal.
Already upset because many of the books in her library have been shipped home by a rigid royal censor, Caroline is aghast at the thought that marriage to this man will be all that her life has to offer. She needn't have worried.
For on one of his numerous trips abroad, the king makes the acquaintance of Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mikkelsen), an idealistic German country doctor who soon finds himself maneuvered into the position of being the king's personal physician.
The disturbed royal takes a shine to Struensee because the dour-looking doctor acts more like the king's wingman than his physician. The fact that Struensee is in fact a devoted man of the Enlightenment who believes in personal freedom and good government is something no one thinks the ruler needs to know.
Caroline at first views this new member of the court as yet another obstacle between her and her husband, but they soon bond not over physical attraction but a mutual passion for Jean Jacques Rousseau and his thoughts on equality.
Mikkelsen, one of Scandinavia's top actors, is compelling as Struensee, and Vikander, soon to be seen as Kitty in Joe Wright's version of "Anna Karenina," is equally good, but all this interest in the rights of man is, while admirable, not a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
Making the story more complicated is the fact that Struensee, who remains close to the oblivious king even while sleeping with his wife, gets the idea of having the monarch be his frontman and pushing forward much-needed reforms.
Christian VII is reluctant to do this, but Struensee capitalizes on the king's love for theater and tells him that he should just think of it as playing the part of a reforming monarch. It works beautifully, but only for a time.
Unfortunately for Struensee, he, like many zealots, even those for good causes, loses track of the real world in his passion to remake Denmark as an Enlightenment stronghold. Though it is clear that he is overreaching, the doctor sees it not, which makes the story's inevitable conclusion a sad cautionary tale.
Though he is not the film's biggest name, the most interesting work in "A Royal Affair" comes from Følsgaard as the king. Under his undeniable madness, Christian VII turns out to be an intriguing character, a sweet and naive soul who wants to do the right thing but doesn't know how. It's a thoroughly unexpected performance and one that reminds us of how lonely being out of your mind can be.
kenneth.turan@latimes.com
--
'A Royal Affair'
MPAA rating: Not rated
Running time: 2 hours, 18 minutes
Playing: At Landmark, West Los Angeles; Sundance Sunset Cinema, West Hollywood; University Town Center, Irvine
source: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/08/entertainment/la-et-mn-royal-affair-20121109
=================================
Denmark's 'A Royal Affair' beats bushes for talent
February 07, 2013|By Hugh Hart
Danish democracy's astonishing origin story has all the makings of a world-class political soap opera. Rife with madness, adultery, decapitations and gorgeous costumes, the Oscar-nominated "A Royal Affair" revisits the saga of a liberal doctor who tried to launch a revolution from the inside out after infiltrating the court of crazy King Christian VII and his beautiful Queen Caroline in the 1760s.
Despite the juicy source material, nobody had made a movie out of Denmark's nation-defining melodrama until writer-director Arcel Nikolaj Arcel came along. Why'd it take so long? Arcel says, "Our main problem is that in Denmark we don't have a big history with period films, and whenever we do try to make them, they tend to be very stuffy and self-important. Investors worried that I would repeat that."
On the contrary, Arcel kept the pomp and pageantry to a minimum. Working within the constraints of a $7-million budget, he notes, "there was a ceiling to the amount of things we could do with this money. My only dogma was: I don't care about the historical trappings. The costumes have to be beautiful and correct, but the only thing I care about is the characters."
To do justice to the characters at the heart of the story, Arcel obsessed over his casting, starting with Mads Mikkelsen. The Danish movie star immediately signed on to play royal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee after reading the "Royal Affair" script. Dr. Struensee, an enlightened man brought in to act as adviser to the mad king, works from inside the royal circle to steer a backward country toward a more progressive modernity. He also finds a kindred spirit in Queen Caroline and, as every Danish schoolchild knows, fathered her second child. The role required a performer of considerable gravitas, Arcel says. "If Mads hadn't said yes," he says, he doesn't know what he would have done. "It's almost like having Daniel Day-Lewis play Lincoln. You have to have the exact right actor."
Arcel had a much harder time locating a believable Caroline. "I auditioned almost every Danish actress in the country but couldn't find anybody from Denmark to play the queen. They were pretty good actresses, but the way they carried themselves, the way they spoke — it was too 'street.' There's a certain modern way of acting in Danish film and television that didn't work for 'A Royal Affair.'"
Enter Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. Though she did not speak Danish, Vikander came across on her videotaped audition with one essential quality lacking in other performers. "There was something regal about Alicia," Arcel says. "Queen Caroline was born of blue blood. She'd been raised to become a princess. It turns out Alicia had been a ballet dancer before she turned to acting, so she had a way a gliding across the floor, almost floating. Not that she's a diva. She was a little bit of a princess."
"Royal Affair's" most volatile character, the king, who historians believe was probably bipolar, also proved difficult to cast. After Denmark's pool of established talent came up wanting, Arcel and his team looked at drama schools. There they discovered Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, a second-year student who'd never performed professionally in film or on stage. "Mikkel had a raw, primal quality," says Arcel. "He was willing to go out on a limb and try anything."
Modern Denmark lacks the ancient streets and castles needed to portray the period accurately, so Arcel filmed "A Royal Affair" in the Czech Republic, drawing on computer-generated imagery to flesh out crowd scenes and build out castle vistas. But for all its 18th century ambience, "A Royal Affair" challenges its characters to tackle issues that continue to bedevil 21st century citizens. Arcel notes: "This film depicts the Age of Enlightenment coming across Europe where you've got conservatives and liberals, you've got science versus religion discussion, you've got the age-old poor-versus-rich discussions. We're having those same debates in Europe and America right now. Let's be honest: We're still a little bit in need of an Age of Enlightenment."
calendar@latimes.com
source: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/07/entertainment/la-et-en-denmark-royal-affair-20130207
ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNrKaopaCee6S7zGirqKiZmHx0f5NraXJlkWK%2FsMXApWSanpaWtrN5kWloa2WUlruqv8dmn6KrpKS%2Fqq%2FApWSmp6aesnA%3D