A Royal Affair

A true event from Denmark in the 1770s. King Christian VII was mentally ill, his young English queen was Caroline Mathilde, and a German physician named Johann Struensee was brought in to look after him. As Struensee gained the king's confidence he became the country's effective ruler and applied Enlightenment ideas from above, abolishing censorship and banning torture. He was also in a relationship with the queen, which is what ended the reforms. Nikolaj Arcel directed. Mads Mikkelsen plays Struensee and Alicia Vikander the queen. The performance most discussed is the king. Mikkel Boe Følsgaard won the Silver Bear at Berlin in 2012 for Christian VII, and at the same festival Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg took the Silver Bear for best script. The film was Denmark's entry for the Foreign Language Oscar. Who it is for: viewers who like period drama fused with political ideas, where the love story sits inside a question about power. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. It runs over two hours, the court intrigue moves slowly, and history has already settled the outcome.