A Royal Affair
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: November 9, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 8, 2012
With its sumptuous settings, urgent romance and intellectual substance, A Royal Affair is a mind-opener crossed with a bodice-ripper. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJan 17, 2013
Although the brazen lovers, bellicose ministers and backstabbing handmaidens are familiar elements, the film is so handsomely mounted that we happily endure the ride until the turning of the screws in the tragic last act. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanDec 6, 2012
Writers Rasmus Heisterberg and Nicolaj Arcel are known in America for the original version of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." This film is the exact opposite: stately instead of propulsive, emotionally warm instead of chilly, lit by candles and sun instead of flashlights and neon. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigNov 29, 2012
Takes a fascinating chapter in Danish history, little-known to general audiences, and presents it engagingly. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 15, 2012
Historical drama of the highest order - teeming with big ideas, and anchored by the nicely nuanced performances of Vikander and Mikkelsen. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNov 7, 2012
A big budget historical drama that carries Denmark's hopes into the Oscar season. It provides still more exposure for the rising Danish star Mads Mikkelsen, the latest male sex symbol of the art house crowd. Read full review
85
NPRElla TaylorNov 8, 2012
While it's lavish and lush in all the expected costume-drama ways, A Royal Affair never bogs down in period detail. What drives the film, along with great acting, is the appetite of director Nikolaj Arcel and his boisterous co-writer Rasmus Heisterberg ("I want a fun queen!" wails Christian) for the queasy workings of political gamesmanship both above and below board. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubSam AdamsNov 7, 2012
Newcomer Følsgaard is the wild card, but he manages to make the king both villain and victim, sometimes a vindictive schemer, at others far-eyed and helpless, a puppet for the forces behind him. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 15, 2012
Set in 18th-century Denmark, it's an intellectual costume drama. It's a romance involving big ideas, the biggest ideas. It's long, it's serious, it's a lot of fun. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 8, 2012
This highly polished costume drama is exceptionally well-made and a model of intelligent restraint, but it is also unapologetically earnest and a bit on the bloodless side. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 8, 2012
Mikkelsen's unconventional features and intense talent lend a compelling edge to this expansive period piece. Read full review
80
TimeMary PolsNov 8, 2012
A slam dunk in the genre, satisfying every period piece craving: torrid affair, mad king, bastard child, throngs at the palace gates and a history lesson that will be fresh to many. Read full review
80
EmpireAnna SmithNov 4, 2012
A voluptuous slice of historical drama that will satisfy period fans and Mikkelsen admirers equally. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJan 30, 2013
A Royal Affair...is a lovely history lesson, but a film without the spark of invention that makes this modern parable feel modern. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJan 17, 2013
It digs deep into the heart and soul of its lovers, who are idealistic, intelligent and passionate - and yet still risk everything they might gain for stolen moments together. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 20, 2012
A Royal Affair is tosh but it's ripely entertaining tosh, with emotions as flamboyant as the window treatments. There is nothing like a Dane. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 16, 2012
But even appreciated simply as a little-known chapter of European history, it proves consistently engrossing, edifying and affecting. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumNov 14, 2012
The storytelling in A Royal Affair is traditional bordering on square. But the historical drama itself - about how an idealistic German doctor influenced a silly king, romanced a queen, and brought the Age of Enlightenment to 18th-century Denmark - is kind of amazing. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 8, 2012
A Royal Affair suffers from the richness of the historical material - there is so much going on here - and also, perhaps, from a patriotic desire to treat it reverently. Unfortunately it never fully comes to life. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesDec 5, 2012
It is certainly competent, lovely to look at, but leaves little lasting impression. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJan 31, 2013
For all its incident, A Royal Affair is slow and picturesquely framed – more of a languorously animated coffee-table book than a gripping drama. Read full review
63
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNov 8, 2012
A Royal Affair is basically a good-looking set of historical Cliffs Notes. There, is however, one excellent reason to see it: Folsgaard, who by the end has made his betrayed and bereft Christian into a figure of genuine tragedy. Read full review
60
The GuardianHenry BarnesNov 4, 2012
The chemistry between Mikkelsen and Vikander barely simmers, when it should boil. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating affair of state. Read full review
60
Total FilmEllen E. JonesNov 4, 2012
The stand-out, though, is Mikkel Boe Folsgaard as the King. Teetering on the edge of sanity, he is both detestable and sympathetic. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick SchagerNov 7, 2012
Director Arcel handles the material with a stately grace that compensates for the story's predictable trajectory, though humdrum period detail and monotonous pacing too often leave the proceedings feeling only partially aroused. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerNov 4, 2012
The film is too tepid in its treatment of its central character and her situation to generate any real emotive charge. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichNov 6, 2012
Intrigue and eroticism abound, all of it watchable, none of it particularly exciting. And the misty widescreen photography lends the proceedings a funereal air of respectability that's like catnip to Oscar voters. Read full review
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