Coluna Claquete – March 10, 2016 – Movies of the Week: “The Girl King” and “A Royal Affair”
Newton Ramalho
colunaclaquete@gmail.com – www.colunaclaquete.blogspot.com – @colunaclaquete
Movies of the Week: “The Girl King” and “A Royal Affair”
It is quite possible that most regular movie consumers, used to Hollywood products, has no idea of the brilliant production of European cinema, and in particular the Scandinavian one. It is remarkable the quality of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish films, among which I selected the titles “The Girl King” and “A Royal Affair”.
The two films have in common portraying historical moments and important figures in their countries. These moments and these personalities have certainly reflected the gap that now exists when we compare the Scandinavian countries and the rest of the world.
“The Girl King” is a Swedish film, and the title character is the controversial Queen Christina, who ruled the country between 1632 and 1654.Cristina, played on screen by Malin Buska, took the throne at the age of six, as she was the official heir of Gustav II, who died in battle in the Thirty Years War. His father also expressed the wish that his daughter was raised and educated as a prince, which was met by Chancellor Axel Oxenstiena (Michael Nyqvist).
Cristina was anything but a conventional queen. Very intelligent and studious, he had remarkable aptitude for learning other languages, and a greed for philosophy, politics and the arts in general. On the other hand, she wore men’s clothes, she loved horseback riding and other activities, in addition to maintaining a long relationship with the Countess Ebba Sparre (Sarah Gordon) and others women.
The historical period shown in the film was of extreme religious intolerance, with great influence of churches on governments and citizens, and one of the adverse effects was the Thirty Years’ War between Catholic and Protestant countries, with huge loss of life and resources for all of them.
Being the daughter of a defender of Protestantism in the war, Cristina caused scandal when she abdicate in 1654 and converted to Catholicism. She spent her remaining years in Rome, becoming the leader of the musical life and local theater.
The film “The Girl King” directed by Mika Kaurismäki, made a historical reading free of prejudices of Cristina of Sweden, bringing to life this character so controversial, but which greatly contributed to modernize her country and do it emerge from obscurantism that was commonplace at the time.
The other film, “A Royal Affair” ( “En Kongelig Affære”), is told from the point of view of Caroline Mathilde (Alicia Vikander), a young English princess who became Queen of Denmark and Norway after marrying King Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard).
If an arranged marriage – a common practice at the time – had its own difficulties, their was more complicated by the influence of real stepmother, who dreamed of the crown to his son, and the emotional instability of the king himself.
During a trip to Europe this instability has reached worrying levels, and two Swedish nobles in disgrace, Rantzau (Thomas W. Gabrielsson) and Brandt (Cyron Melville) proposed to provincial doctor Johann Friedrich Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen) applying to become king’s doctor. They would present the young mand, and if Struensee were successful, they would use his influence to make them return to danish capital.
Struensee encouraged the king to improve the relationship with his wife, and as the queen knew well that it was Struensee who was behind these improvements, she began to take interest by the young doctor. This interest quickly turned into attraction; in January 1770, Struensee became entitled to have a room for him at the royal palace and in the spring of 1770, he was the queen’s lover. When he could manage a successful vaccine to the Crown Prince in May of that year, their influence further increased.
In 1770, the king began to increasingly isolate himself and became less and less influential because of his mental state. Caroline Mathilde, so far ignored by royal court, became the center of attention.She began to gain new confidence and showed herself in public on horseback and dressed in men’s clothes.
Taking advantage of the new power that Caroline had in court, Struensee began to rule by the king, dismissing the old board that ruled the country. It had began the Age of Struensee, when during sixteen months Denmark has undergone changes considered unthinkable until then, such as the prohibition of torture in prisons, rights for farmers and reducing the noble privileges.
These darings that contradicted both the nobility as the church, besides the queen’s behavior become a laughingstock among the common people, led to a coup d’etat when the king was obliged to order the arrest and subsequent execution of Struensee.
Denmark again plunged into obscurantism, from where only would emerge through the son of Caroline and Christia, years after Struensee’s death.
This film is interesting by showing a seething time, where the rule of the nobility and the church was questioned by the Enlightenment, among which included Struensee, and it would have its great reflection on the French Revolution, a few years after the events shown here.
Although the exquisite season reconstitution of work and costumes, the highlight of the film is the performance of the cast, a result of the direction of Nikolaj Arcel. But the soul of the film is the young actress Alicia Vikander, whose talent was recognized this year with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in “The Danish Girl”.
“A Royal Affair” can be timeless by showing how in the struggle for power the least important is the good of the people, or the good values and virtues. The one who has the power don’t want to lose it, even if, for this, uses means or resources of the lowest nature, such as slander and defamation.