A Royal Affair

R

Released Nov 9, 2012

2h 17m

Drama

Romance

History

List

90%

112 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A young queen falls in love with her physician, and they start a revolution that changes their nation forever.

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Critics Consensus

A Royal Affair is a lavish and sumptuous costume drama with a juicy story to back it up.

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Jerod S

Denmark had a King that was schizophrenic. Vikander married him and had lost all hope until Mads became the King's "doctor". It's a royal mess as love and power orbit the king and affect the people.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/26/24

Full Review

R 9

'A Royal Affair' is an excellent film. I enjoyed it all, every bit, but the ending is what sold it for me - great conclusion, which didn't do the predictable wrap up that I was expecting it to do. Despite running for over two hours the pacing is near perfect, as is the standout score. The actors do wonderful jobs. Alicia Vikander is particularly brilliant, as is a fantastic Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkel Følsgaard also brings a strong performance, early on I wasn't fully convinced but by the end he won me over tenfold. The supporting cast are very good too. Such a well written and well told story, the whole look of how its brought to life onscreen is superb. It's a breeze to watch all the way through and by the time the third act completes it manages to bring emotion into the mix as well. Big fan.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/12/23

Full Review

Bunk M

The King "Christian" slays here with booming impulsiveness that hangs over every scene. He also emerges as the most endearing, as he is unapologetically a King who likes to party.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/11/23

Full Review

steve d

Passable only for its actors.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

isla s

To start with the plot pace was a bit slow but its features somewhat lavish costumes and settings which kept me interested. The characters are intriguing and I found the political aspects interesting too. I can't say I knew anything about this story beforehand and earlyish on I wasn't sure if it would keep my interest but it has more subsrance to it than I think I'd earlier expected. The cast give very decent performances, with the two most memorable, to me anyway, were Mads Mikkelson as the physician and Mikkel Boe Folsgaard as King Christian VII. If your interested in historical European politics, particularly that of Denmark and/or if your keen on the cast, then I'd definitely recommend this film. Its surprisingly engrossing.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

david l

A Royal Affair is a sumptuous Danish period piece that is much less interesting in its romantic storyline and much more intriguing in its political subplot. The movie deals with the arrival of the Enlightenment movement to Denmark and all of those scenes were fascinating and insightful, if not particularly historically accurate. The film looks and sounds great, albeit it just went through the motions in its first half. The highlight is the acting with Mads Mikkelsen delivering one of his career-best performances.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Nikolaj Arcel

Director

Mads Mikkelsen

Johann Friedrich Struensee

Alicia Vikander

Caroline Mathilde

David Dencik

Ove Høegh-Guldberg

Trine Dyrholm

Juliane Marie

Thomas W. Gabrielsson

Schack Carl Rantzau

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

If the story presented in A Royal Affair wasnt true, its doubtful anyone would believe it.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 29, 2022

Full Review

Deborah Ross

The Spectator

Although, at times, this is rather coolly aloof in tone, the cast is knock-out, and it is so excellently and expertly done, I'm pretty sure it will float your boat.

Sep 1, 2018

Full Review

Liam Lacey

Globe and Mail

For all its incident, A Royal Affair is slow and picturesquely framed - more of a languorously animated coffee-table book than a gripping drama.

Rated: 2.5/4

Feb 1, 2013

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

An elegant, emotional period drama, boasting splendid performances from the leading trio and maintaining a remarkable degree of consistency in its portrayal of a particular period of the Danish monarchy. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Sep 4, 2023

Full Review

Jane Freebury

The Canberra Times (Australia)

It's a thoughtful, delicate romance that deserved more recognition on its release.

Aug 18, 2022

Full Review

David Harris

Spectrum Culture

An interesting and worthwhile movie.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 19, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

A young queen falls in love with her physician, and they start a revolution that changes their nation forever.

Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Screenwriter: Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Zentropa Entertainments
Rating: R (Some Violent Images|Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama, Romance, History
Original Language: Danish
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 9, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.5M
Runtime: 2h 17m

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