Day 126: A Royal Affair

Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) is controlled by his Council and is left with practically no control, until he finds a friend in Johann Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen). As his personal physician and confidant, Johann has considerable influence over the King and he carefully directs him in ways that will better care for the people of Denmark. However, he falls in love with the Queen, Caroline Mathilde (Alicia Vikander), and this is eventually used against them to reinstate the old laws and remove any thoughts of looking after the people.

People are like sheep. Johann clearly did so much for them and they loved him but as soon as the nobles began spreading fear about the safety of the King, they were all against him. All he did was try to improve conditions for the people and take away power from the rich ones who didn’t care about those ‘lower’ than them. It’s always so easy to turn a crowd. People individually will usually question things but as a group they are absolutely useless and will follow the lead of the loudest and most insistent voice.

The story between Caroline and Johann was wonderful. They could talk to each other and share ideas that they both held about the future of Denmark. As the Queen she had little in the way of mental stimulation but along came Johann and his influence over the King allowed her to move away from the restrictions of her title and to have power over important matters, and to do what she thought was right. And the two were so clearly in love, the acting was just perfect. When they were dancing I was just so caught up in it, it really was a pleasure to watch.

Such a beautiful film. I think I’m actually a little bit in love with it, if I’m honest. I’ve never seen a Danish film before but if they’re anything like this one, I will have to watch more. The acting was wonderful, the dialogue was perfect, the costumes were beautiful, and it was paced brilliantly so that it allowed you to immerse yourself in the story. I can’t say enough good things about this film. I want to watch it again.

9/10