Very best movie i ever watch

Sadly Over-hyped

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

THIS MOVIE HAS THE INCREDIBLE MERIT OF PRESENTING A PRACTICALLY DELETED REALITY OF THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF DENMARK. ITS PROTAGONIST, JOHANN FRIEDRICH STRUENSEE, IS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH TO THE FREEDOM OF THE MANKIND... THAT RESULTS VERY INDIGESTIBLE TO OFFICIAL HISTORIANS. THIS FILM BRINGS BACK SOMETHING THAT LOOKED LOST IN THE CURRENT CINEMA: DEPTH, MORAL RELEVANCE, PLASTIC BEAUTY, SINCERE EMOTION, GREAT INTERPRETATION, EXCELLENT DIALOGUES. THE THEME OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT HAS BEEN FEW TIMES TOUCHED BY CINEMA (I REMEMBER "WITCH" IN 1920, "INHERIT THE WIND" IN 1959, "THE PHARAO" IN 1966), BUT AS IN THIS MOVIE, NEVER. EQUALLY "A ROYAL AFFAIR" (TITLE THAT HIDES THE TRUE SENSE OF THE ARGUMENT) SHOWS EMPATHY TOWARDS THE OPPRESSED PEOPLE, TOWARDS THE IDEALS THAT CAME IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, AND DENOUNCES THE DARK COMPLOTES OF THE EUROPEAN NOBILITY AND THE CHURCH. THIS IS THE DENIED HISTORY, THIS IS A WORK OF ART THAT OBEYS WONDERFULLY THE GREEK IDEAL OF THE DEEP LINK OF BEAUTY AND INTELLIGENCE. "A ROYAL AFFAIR", DESPITE THE TITLE, IS A GIFT FOR THE MIND AND THE HEART.

We had very recently seen Alicia Vikander in 'Testament of Youth', and I had also enjoyed her in 'Ex Machina', so I searched Netflix streaming and came upon this one which I had failed to see when it came out. I just want to first say that Vikander is super in her role.The story seems mostly fact-based on real Danish royalty in the late 1700s, starting about 1767. The Danish heir to the throne is a young man who needs a queen. As was common in those times, I suppose to help keep relations smooth between countries, his bride was chosen to be an English princess. She makes the journey to meet her King when she is only 15. Vikander plays the young Caroline Mathilde, a pretty and talented young girl. The actress is from Sweden, and also speaks proper English, but had to learn Danish for this role. At least learn the Danish required for her script. The young King is Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as Christian VII, seemingly of normal intelligence but also very unusual. He seems frivolous most of the time and is given to unprovoked outbursts when something makes him unhappy. And very insecure, when Caroline is being introduced to the royal family and court, and she is playing piano beautifully, the young King gets agitated and yells loudly for her to stop that noise and get her fat butt to a chair and sit down. He was fearful that she was going to be liked more than he and that displeased him.Hardly necessary to state the young King and his new Queen never were able to develop a loving relationship. She did her duty to invite him to her bedroom, he did his duty to sire a son, an heir to the throne, but during their time together they did not have much to do with each other. He preferred to be visiting brothels.The country was hardly ruled by the King, the old men on the council pretty much told him what to do, what to sign, and when to shut up. Then along comes Mads Mikkelsen as a German doctor, Johann Friedrich Struensee. The King was on a long tour of Europe and was convinced he needed a personal physician, and Struensee got the job. Back home in Denmark not only did the German begin to give the King ideas on new laws for Denmark, he also took a keen interest in the neglected Queen.All this drama plays out very well with a superb script and a super cast. A rebellion led by the King's mother ousted Struensee and banished the Queen who died at only 23 from smallpox. But the son of this bad relationship with the bad King ascended to the throne at a young age and ended up being a superb King for Denmark.Mostly in Danish with English subtitles.

A ROYAL AFFAIR has distinct intertextual links to Nicholas Hytner's THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE in its portrayal of a mad king (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) who prefers his dogs and mistresses to marriage to a 17-year-old British heiress Caroline Mathilde (Alicia Vikander). Both of them develop a close relationship with German physician Johann Friedrich Streuensee (Mads Mikkelsen): the king regards him as his closest adviser, while the young queen falls in love with him. Eventually that "royal affair" proves the undoing of both Caroline and Streuensee.Told in flashback by the now-banished Caroline, A ROYAL AFFAIR creates an unsympathetic picture of Danish court life in the mid-eighteenth century, one where the King is ruled by his cabinet, and where intrigue is rife. No one can ever be sure of their jibs, especially when the King is so eccentric; but while they are in power, they exploit his weaknesses for all they are worth. The Danish court are explicitly racist in their attitudes; not only do they mistrust Streuensee for his closeness to both monarchs, but they resent his presence on account of his Germanness. The only way to force him out is to insist that he does not "think like" a Dane, and therefore cannot be allowed to influence government policy. While the King stoutly supports Streuensee, he lacks both the guile and the self-possession to protect him.Shot on location in the Czech Republic as well as in Denmark, Nikolaj Arcel's film creates a claustrophobic world in which every gesture can be interpreted as political. The environment is as formal as the costumes; no one can ever have sufficient temerity to speak for themselves. The exterior shots are familiar from most Anglo-American costume dramas (carriages pulling away from stately buildings, elaborately costumed balls etc.) but here they are invested with added meaning, as many of the landscapes outside the court appear both bare and poverty-stricken. Clearly the King and his courtiers are too preoccupied with their own intrigues to worry about the people.The pace is slow-moving, but this gives us a lot of time to focus on the protagonists' expressions - specifically the public faces that they show to the world that mask rather than disclose their true feelings. A ROYAL AFFAIR is a savage denunciation of hypocrisy - although it might focus on the past, its political significance remains significant today.

In the late eighteenth century Denmark, a radical German doctor soothed the mad King, seduced the Queen and governed the country as an enlightened liberal. Understadnably, it didn't last, and Nikolaj Arcel's film tells the story of his extraordinary rise and fall. It's a compelling story, a historical 'Borgen' and the tragedy of a man who ends up assuming an unsustainable position almost by accident; as a film, it's well-acted but also slow, drawing out a tale that can only ever move in one direction. A touch of sympathy for the old guard might have added some depth. It's interesting to think that the British king of the same period also had his own issues with mental health, another story that has been filmed: the politics here is stronger than in Alan Bennet's 'The Madness of King George', but it's not as much fun.