A Royal Affair

Remember that creepy villain from Daniel Craig’s first James Bond flick, Casino Royale? He was played by a Danish actor named Mads Mikkelsen, and it’s the sort of work that could box an actor in if he doesn’t get a lot of play in the U.S. What’s that? He’s playing Hannibal Lecter on TV next spring? Yeesh … lighten the mood, Mads. Fortunately for Mikkelsen, there’s A Royal Affair, which casts him as an Enlightenment-era doctor who becomes the personal physician of Denmark’s King Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), has an affair (the royal kind) with the queen (Alicia Vikander), and eventually grabs power over the entire nation when the king’s mental illness renders him largely incompetent. It’s a fascinating story that is apparently mostly true; it’s well-assembled from beginning to end; and it gives a great actor like Mikkelsen a chance to showcase a couple of new angles.