If you waited ages and ages to get in to see “A Royal Affair” at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival you may be disappointed to know you only had to wait a few more weeks to skip the lines. And if you didn’t get in to see it, well here’s your chance. Nikolag Arcel’s lavish costume drama follows the real-life affair that happened between the English-born Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark, and the King’s physician, Dr. Johann Struensee. It’s the kind of sweeping film history-lovers love, but it’s also a complex tale of good intentions and hubris on top of its love-affair plot.
The time is the 18th century, and the place is one of the last European countries trying to stave off the rising tide of the Enlightenment. And we soon see why writers like Voltaire and Rousseau questioned a system that could lead to the childish and insane King Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard) running a country. Or at least pretending to: the true power resided in the king’s council, who handed the king laws to rubber stamp, protecting their own interests and damning the peasants.