En Kongelig Affære

Denmark

Synopsis

A ROYAL AFFAIR is the true story of an ordinary man who wins the queen’s heart and starts a revolution. Centring on the intriguing love triangle between the ever more insane Christian VII, the man of enlightenment and idealism, Struensee, and the young but strong queen Caroline Mathilda, the drama is the gripping tale of brave idealists who risk everything in their pursuit of freedom for the people, but above all it is the story of a passionate and forbidden romance that changed an entire nation.

Director's Statement

A ROYAL AFFAIR is based on one of the most dramatic events in Danish and indeed European history; whenever I pitched the film to foreign investors, people had a hard time believing that the story was true, that these momentous events had actually happened in the late 1700s. In Denmark, however, it is taught in school, more than 15 books have been written about it (both factual and fictional) and there is even an opera and a ballet. I feel honoured and extremely lucky to finally bring the full story to the screen. Tonally, I was inspired by the great epics from the 40s and 50s where films would often feel like literary works, structured around characters and the passage of time, and not clearly following the obvious screenplay roadmaps. But my creative team and I were also fired up by the idea of bringing the Scandinavian historical drama into the new century. We wanted to achieve this by adhering to a self-imposed rule; we didn’t want to “show” history, didn’t want to dwell pointlessly on the big official events, the fancy dresses and hairdos, or the way the food was served. Rather, we wanted people to simply experience the story through the eyes of the characters, taking the 1760s for granted. Even though the period is obviously there in the set designs and costumes, it was filmed and edited as we would have filmed and edited a film taking place in modern Copenhagen. Finally, Gabriel Yared and Cyrille Aufort’s beautiful score has brought the film full circle, and home to its epic roots.
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel

Written by: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg

Produced by: Meta Louise Foldager, Louise Vesth, Sisse Graum Jørgensen

Cinematography: Rasmus Videbæk

Editing: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, Kasper Leick

Production Design: Niels Sejer

Original Score: Cyrille Aufort, Gabriel Yared

Cast: Mads Mikkelsen (Johan Friedrich Struensee), Alicia Vikander (Caroline Mathilde), Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (Christian VII)

Nominations and Awards

  • European Production Designer 2012
  • European Composer 2012
  • Feature Film Selection 2012