From the opening credits in the historical drama from Denmark, A Royal Affair, we learn that during the 18^th century at the time of the court of the Danish King Christian Vll of Denmark, royalty ruled the land with oppression.  Soon we’ll see how that oppression worked and how the country would temporarily change for the better until circumstances changed everything back to the Middle Ages while the rest of Europe blossomed.

While the love affair between the queen and the king’s personal doctor is the focal point of the film, it’s the politics and the intrigue of the court that grips.

Before she became Queen of Denmark and Norway, Carolina Matilda was a member of the British Royal Family.  An arranged marriage sent her overseas at the age of fifteen to a new culture and a new language. King George lll of England wanted his sister to marry her cousin, Christian of Denmark.  What the king of England didn’t know was that his Danish relative was actually mentally ill, a fact ignored by many in the Danish courts who viewed the young king as merely immature.

After having lived in the generally open society of Gt. Britain, Carolina would soon discover Denmark’s rule of oppression on its subjects for herself.  Many of the books she enjoyed reading were taken from her as soon as she arrived due to the strict nature of the country’s censorship ruling.  When Carolina first meets her husband-to-be it is clear that the young man is not altogether there.  With childlike giggles and an inability to hold a conversation of any kind, it soon becomes apparent that King Christian of Denmark is sick, but it’s his illness and inability to rule in a any real capacity other than that as a figurehead that works to the advantage of the real rulers of the court, the statesmen and religious leaders whose rules and laws appeared to have been passed for their personal advantage rather than the nation’s subjects.

Actor Mads Mikkelson, who you may recall as the Bond villain who cried tears of blood in Casino Royale, plays Johann Struensee, a German doctor who becomes appointed as royal physician to the mentally ill king.  It was his secret affair with the queen that caused the scandal and his eventual downfall, but before that occurred, Struensee become a regent of the country and was responsible for bringing many widespread and much needed reforms, including the abolition of censorship, of noble privileges, of torture, a ban of slave trade and of the Royal Court’s aristocracy.  In other words, enlightenment finally came to Denmark.  But as history teaches us, those who had wealth and power, even if it came at the expense of the poor, will never willingly give it up, and a coup of the reformed courts is executed plunging the country back to the dark rule of oppression.

“The king is ruining the country,” claims a religious statesman to the ever realistic Struensee, to which the doctor replies, “The King?  Or someone who believes the earth was created in six days?”

A Royal Affair has an opulent look throughout.  True to its Scandinavian roots, the emotions of this splendid looking costume drama are kept at arms’ length, but its story of behind-the-scenes political shenanigans, of greed and of murderous intrigue is so fascinating the film springs to life on the presentation of facts alone. I was hooked.

 MPAA Rating:  R    Length:  137 minutes    Overall Rating:  8 (out of 10)

 Note:  This film is presented in Danish with English subtitles.