A Royal Affair (Nikolaj Arcel, 2012): Denmark

Reviewed by Emma Karlsson. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Set in the 18th century Denmark,

A Royal Affair is a tale of monarch,

King Christian VII of Denmark is ill,

Nothing can help him, not even a pill,

He marries a lady from England, Caroline,

Christian is however afraid that Caroline will outshine,

The greatness that he thinks belongs to his name,

He yells at Caroline and put her to shame.

Later on a physician gets hired,

Struensee is not only a physician – but also a political ghost writer.

Christian and Struensee become very close friends,

or at least that’s what the king thinks looking through only his lens.

Caroline is intrigued by this new friend of the king,

Behind closed doors, in secret, Caroline and Struensee starts a thing,

The two discuss ideas that leads to an affair

Christian doesn’t expect anything; he’s not mentally there.

Naturally the affair has consequences, big and small,

when secrets are revealed; it ends with a brawl.

I salute The Royal Affair for its beautiful photography,

and for Scandinavia to believe in their projects; a scandinavian royal family biography,

It’s a high budget film without shoving it in your face,

It has a very nice editing balance; a great pace.

Ultimately the film is about a country’s political reform,

The love affair being exposed is only the eye of the storm.

I really do not care much for the two secret lovers,

I only care about how great Christian is, how uniquely he reacts when he discovers,

that the two people who supposedly love him the most,

only treats Christian as basically a house host.