A Royal Affair [Blu-ray]

Alicia Vikander is the leading actress in this historical drama. In the wake of the French Revolution, the movie shows the kind of change that is needed.I just love the actress. she is an amazing and beautiful actress.

As others have said, this film is based on a true story which is also an important story, especially for Denmark but also for the vastly more liberal Europe that was in the process of being born. The story begins with the arranged marriage between King Christian VII of Denmark and Princess Caroline Matilda of England. By the time the princess was born her brother was already King George III of England, the same king who presided over our own revolution as well as the uneasy union of Ireland with England, making him the first true monarch of the UK. One valuable thing the movie does is to flesh out the very appealing character of Matilda, who was both informal in her manners and a great reader, always curious about, and sympathetic with, the ideas of equality and liberty which were gaining traction in her lifetime. Evidently the realization that their young queen was always considered charming and bright is new even to Danes, who learn the rudiments of this story as schoolchildren much as we learn about our revolutionary figures when we are that age, which is to say, as little more than stick figures. Naturally enough the Danish focus has always been on the king whom Matilda married and their son, who became a very great, justly famous king. At the age of fifteen, Caroline Matilda voyaged to Denmark where she found that she was unlucky in her marriage. Whether Christian was mad or merely erratic, whether he was homosexual or merely inclined to confuse his wife with his daunting mother, he was always viewed as a foolish child by the nobility who controlled him and, through him, the country. Their wish was to insulate Denmark from the modern ideas beginning to permeate Europe while preserving and maximizing their own wealth and power. Social change began when a brilliant German doctor, Struensee, became Christian's first friend and, gradually, his sole political advisor. Eventually, however, for whatever reason (possibly bi-polar illness), Christian sank into a catatonic depression that left Struensee in power as de facto king -- and a very energetic king, too, issuing some 1,069 cabinet orders in about ten months. During this time the two free-thinking foreigners, a low-born German doctor and the English Queen, almost certainly found both joy and solace in the queen's bed, forming as a small and very happy family into which the queen bore a daughter who was almost certainly fathered by Struensee. These events comprise most of the movie which is a joy to watch, beautiful, fascinating, and very erotic. Perhaps because the acting is so very good, the film never becomes either a preachy history lesson or a stilted costume drama. Of course the preternaturally gifted Mikkelsen is a joy to watch, but so are the young Swedish actress who plays the queen and the novice actor who gives a masterful performance as the unfortunate king. Still, even as we enjoy watching the two sensual and charming lovers, we realize that they are behaving very unwisely, failing at every step to protect themselves from the malice of the nobles and the superstitious rage of the people over whom the nobles have great influence. Struensee's worst failure may have been scorning to form any coalition of power with the few nobles who might have been able to protect him from the many nobles who believed that both he and the queen were flouting all Danish custom while demeaning the beloved monarchy. Therefore, for the two lovers, the ending had to be sad, and because the movie has so much emotional power from the first scene, of course their downfall is sad to watch, although it is also brief. Moreover, as we learn in a final summary, in some sense the revolutionary doctor and his queen will triumph in the end, because the Denmark which they wanted so very much to create was soon recreated by Caroline Matilda's son, Frederick, who outdid Struensee himself in bringing about a famously bloodless, and even more liberal, revolution. And that revolution has, of course, endured. This is a movie I can unequivocally recommend as emotionally and aesthetically irresistible.

Thought acting very good, beautiful costumes, sets, and production. What takes it up a notch over a garden-variety costume piece is that fact that it really happened! Probably plenty of dramatic license taken but I don't care~ over-all great, with historically exciting plot.

So well done. Amazing acting, great inclusion of historical context. Would recommend to anyone,

Great Acting by all, especially Mads M. and Alicia V.. Another example of people guided--by human emotions and not by solid Positive principles--who end up facing the consequences of their actions. Yes, the consequences were administered by wicked people but the protagonists were wicked, too.Description shows English language, but it was not in the English Language. Audio is Danish. Subtitles in English only. Easy to follow if you don't mind subtitles.

"En Kongelig affaere" is an R-rated Danish/Swedish production (it opened in March, 2012 in Denmark) based on a novel by Bodil Steensen-Leth. The story is about King Christian VII, an insane king of Denmark, whose young wife falls in love with the royal physician. Pretty tawdry stuff, huh?That's what the over-simplified publicity says. I say that this multi-layered historical drama is absolutely wonderful from beginning to end and it makes us want to re-examine what the history books have said. Every character is fully developed, the costumes and locations are carefully reproduced and the story is based on real people, for better or for worse.It stars: * Alicia Vikander ("Anna Karenina") as the young queen Caroline Mathilde, a member of the British royal family, wed to a Danish king and forever exiled from her homeland. Her situation is little better than slavery, her duty is to bear a heir, nothing more. Her beloved books are sent back to England because the censors don't approve. The camera LOVES this young woman's face! * Mads Mikkelsen ("After the Wedding") as the German-born physician Johann Friedrich Struensee, a reform-minded Free Thinker, who is opposed to serfdom (which is another word for slavery), eager to tax the rich to pay for orphanages, rid the streets of sewage, and vaccinate the general population against smallpox (radical ideas, indeed). This fine actor had us on the edge of our seats! * Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (Lots of Danish TV) is wonderful as King Christian VII, selfish, immature, spontaneous, easily misled and cruelly managed by his self-serving council. As he starts to authorize the reforms suggested by his physician, the privy council fights back. This actor makes us wonder how crazy the king really was...This mixture of Danish, Swedish, French and German (yes, captions) has a voiceover reading a letter from the banished Queen to her children, one of whom, history tells us, is the future King Frederich VI, who transformed Denmark into a modern country.Seattle is a movie-going town, but even I was surprised by the standing-room only crowd in one of the last local theaters where it is playing. I guess the folks who missed it will have to see it on DVD. Of course it being nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2013 Oscars hasn't hurt, either. I share my DVD regularly with friends and family.

Dieser zweistündige Historienfilm des dänischen Regisseurs Nikolaj Arcel aus dem Jahr 2012 entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Rasmus Heisterberg und Lars von Trier.Was wie der Stoff eines typischen Kostümfilms klingt, ist in Wahrheit reale dänische Geschichte. Den Arzt Struensee gab es wirklich, ebenso seine Affäre mit Königin Caroline bis hin zu seiner Machtposition.Dänemark 1770: Schon als Kind ist die aus England stammende Prinzessin Caroline Mathilde (Alicia Vikander) dem Prinzen Christian VII ((Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) versprochen und soll den königlichen Gemahl nun bald ehelichen. Der Bräutigam in spe sei, so sagen ihr die Hofdamen, ein kultivierter Mann, ein Liebhaber des Theaters und überhaupt als kommender König von Dänemark eine gute Partie. Doch Christian entpuppt sich gleich bei der ersten Begegnung als mindestens exzentrischer Lüstling mit seltsamem Lachen, merkwürdigem Benehmen und einem unglaublichen Appetit auf Hofdamen und Prostituierte.Nachdem Caroline ihrer Verpflichtung zum Gebären eines Thronfolgers nachgekommen ist, begibt sich der psychisch Kranke Christian auf eine ausgedehnte Europa-Reise, von der er den preussischen Aufklärer Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen) als Leibarzt mit an den Hof in Kopenhagen bringt. Schnell gewinnt Struensee an Einfluss und kann den König zu dringend benötigten Reformen bewegen.Die vereinsamte Königin und der Leibarzt verlieben sich ineinander, denn auch Caroline ist ein Freigeist und sehnt sich zugleich nach einem liebevollen Mann an ihrer Seite. Doch diese Verbindung wird ihnen zum Verhängnis , denn Struensees Treiben wird durch den königlichen Rat bereits mit großem Misstrauen verfolgt....Die Geschichte konzentriert sich ganz auf die Gefühle dieser verrückten Ménage à trois. Die beiden Liebenden grenzen den labilen König gar nicht aus, sondern bleiben ihm sogar verbunden. Man spürt auch Struensees tiefes Verständnis, das er als Arzt der geschundenen Psyche Christians entgegenbringt. Wenn er den König im Kabinett zum Durchsetzen seiner eigenen Ideen einspannt, wirkt das nicht wie ein intrigantes Ausnutzen, sondern wie der Kampf zweier verlorener Seelen für Veränderung.Aber es ist keine Heiligengeschichte. Mads Mikkelsen durchläuft mit einem stoischen Gesicht und gnadenlos aufrechter Haltung alle Aggregatzustände dieses Lehrstücks von Aufstieg und Fall eines Aufklärers , der zu viel wollte...alle Liebe, alle Macht, alle Freiheit – gegen alle Chancen und Realitäten.Alicia Vikander ist eine hinreißende junge Königin, ihre Blickwechsel mit Struensee und die Haltung, die sie angesichts ihres Ehemannes und ihres Schicksals bewahrt, sind so intensiv, dass sie sogar Mads Mikkelsen fast an die Wand spielt.In einer der wunderbarsten Szenen beginnt die Affäre zwischen Caroline und Struensee. Als die beiden während eines Tanzes begreifen, dass sie sich lieben. Sie umkreisen sich, sie tanzen, sehen sich starr an, die Blicke werden immer weicher. Die Zeit wird aufgehoben, die Musik steht still....lange verweilt die Kamera auf ihren Gesichtern, während sie sich weiter im Kreis drehen und sich anschauen... Eine Szene zum Dahinschmelzen...;-)„Die Königin und der Leibarzt“ ist ein bewegender, opulenter Kostümfilm mit Bildern, die manchmal wirken, als wären sie von Jan Vermeer gemalt.Und es ist auch ein Film über die Anfänge der Aufklärung in Europa und die Hindernisse, die es zu überwinden galt. Wobei sich die Handlung hauptsächlich mit der dramatischen Romanze befasst und das Ringen am Hof zwischen den leidenschaftlichen Aufklärern und den religiösen Fanatikern doch mehr im Hintergrund steht. Einen historischen Politthriller darf man deshalb nicht erwarten.Mir hat der Film sehr gut gefallen.

I didn't know the historic fact told, so I learned something new. The film is good , costumes are historically correct , actors are good. Unfortunatelly is ALL in danish with subtitles :((

A fascinating dvd giving insight into that particular time & place in history, kept my interest when watching it!

Think it would have been a good film but subtitles really awful - totally spoiled this film for me

Has anyone noticed the similarity between this film and Basil Dearden's Ealing Studios SARABANDE FOR DEAD LOVERS?