A Royal Affair

Original title: En kongelig affære

2012
R
2h 17m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

52K

YOUR RATING

A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.

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Period Drama Biography Drama History Romance

A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

52K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 21 wins & 42 nominations total

Trivia
Swedish actress Alicia Vikander had to learn Danish. Vikander spent two months in Copenhagen in Denmark learning Danish prior to principal photography.

Goofs
While all of the characters all speak Danish in the film, the court language in Denmark at the time was German. In real life neither Graf Bernstorff nor Johann Struensee spoke any Danish, and it is probable that Christian and Caroline also conversed in German rather than the "people's language." However, this is a movie made for a Danish audience. "Translating" the characters' speech to the language of the audience is in the same principle as Hollywood movies where Egyptian Pharaohs and Roman Emperors speak English.

Quotes
Johann Friedrich Struensee: Your majesty.
Caroline Mathilde: You recognized me.
Johann Friedrich Struensee: I would recognize you blindfolded.
Caroline Mathilde: But your costume is not very imaginative.
Johann Friedrich Struensee: I'm afraid I'm not very good at the masquerade.
Caroline Mathilde: I believe this is the one night when everyone can be themselves.
[pause]
Caroline Mathilde: But you never remove your mask. Do you?

Connections
Featured in Maltin on Movies: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012)

Soundtracks
Water Music, HWV 350, Suite No.3 in G Major (III. Minuet)
Music by George Frideric Handel (as Georg Friedrich Händel)
(P) Zentropa Music

User reviews102

Review

Featured review

9/10

Impressive in its beauty!

Love can lead to transformation yet the force of greed and the lack of political skills can bring anyone down even though you have the best intentions and act for the "greater good".

It does not happen very often that I come out of the cinema and completely shut up. It didn't feel like I was listening to a non-English dialogue. Danish felt like a familiar language ... and it was beautiful in this movie.

Though not with splendid clothes like Marie Antoinette, no intense intrigues, no large battle scenes, it was one of the best historic films I have ever seen. Everything was kept "small", yet with so much feeling that I could not take sides with any of the 3 main characters. Fair enough, the greedy and backward upper-class angered me much; just can't stand stupidity, especially when it holds back progress and the aim for improvements.