The Danes are riding high on the international film scene at the moment with MADS MIKKELSEN winning best actor in Cannes recently. He stars in a new release here, A ROYAL AFFAIR, about a possibly little-known historical event in Denmark in the 18th Century. A young English princess, Caroline - ALICIA VIKANDER - travels to Copenhagen to be married to the Danish king Christian - MIKKEL BOE FOELSGAARD.She's horrified to discover that her young husband is mentally unstable. When Johann Struensee, Mikkelsen, is appointed to be his personal physician, a dangerous closeness develops between the young Queen and the doctor.

When the Queen and Struensee become involved in politics, trying to reform some of iniquities in Danish society, they enter even more dangerous territory.This has been beautifully directed by Nikolai Arcel from a screenplay he wrote with Rasmus Heisterberg, the duo that brought us the first and the best of the Stieg Larsson adaptations, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. It's not only a grand romance, it's also an insight into the dangers of personal and political hubris. MADS MIKKELSEN is wonderful as Struensee as is ALICIA VIKANDER as the Queen, but it's the performance of MIKKEL BOE FOELSGAARD as the King that is stunning, he brings a beautiful pathos to his demanding role. It is quite a conventional film in many ways, but it's been done intelligently, it is an engrossing work.

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