Starring Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe F酶lsgaard | Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
Set in the Age of Enlightenment, Nikolaj Arcels period drama looks to shed some light on the political maneuvering that saw Denmark effectively being governed by the mad kings personal physician for a brief spell in the late 18th Century. Of course, this would be the same doctor who was making regular house calls (of the conjugal variety) to the queens quarters.
As the film opens, Caroline Mathilde (Alicia Vikander) leaves her native England for the first time in order to become Queen of Denmark. An already awkward situation is made seemingly unworkable when her new husband Christian VII (Mikkel Boe F酶lsgaard, in the films most complex performance) reveals himself to be a monstrous, insecure, and increasingly unstable imbecile. Once free-thinking Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen) is appointed royal physician, he seduces both husband and wife, albeit in decidedly different ways. In Caroline, he gains a lover who shares his devotion to the Enlightenment. In Christian, he acquires a puppet who possesses the power to advance his progressive agenda.
Given how often the subjects of freedom and reform are broached on screen, some frustration arises from how resolutely restrained and conventional A Royal Affair proves to be. Likewise, the presence of Christians scheming (read: evil) stepmother (Trine Dyrholm) offers hope that we might be treated to some entertaining histrionics. Instead, were delivered a solemn history lesson that makes little effort to sugar the pill. At least the bleedings hearts will be able to sleep well at night content in the knowledge that no bodices were ripped in the making of this tale of forbidden romance.
