Margrete: Queen of the North

A well-developed Nordic legend that, despite its colorful treatment, looks realistic and dramatic, although it has nothing to really lean on. Trine Dyrholm is as excellent as always in her acting. Here, however, she takes the movie to another level with her bewitching performance. I like the original style, in that it is not gory, and that the viewer is spared stereotypical battle scenes. On the other hand, it emphasizes the royal way of thinking - to keep the union calm and maintain peace. The viewer can then enjoy the dramatic and exciting machinations, which are completed by an absolutely perfect soundtrack that will give you goosebumps. (07/19/2022)

What about the fact that the movie admits early on that it is only fiction based on reality. What movie isn't? Actually, if we wanted to dig into it, The Holy Mountain falls into a similar category. In the end, despite that opening warning, Margaret does not deviate spectacularly from historical fact. There was indeed a case of "False Olaf", except that he, having accepted Margrete's invitation to court, revealed that he couldn't speak a word of Danish and wham, burned at the stake. Problem solved. No Sophie's Choice. For some, perhaps an insufficient dramatic arc, for me a very entertaining idea of a Monty Python-esque conclusion to a dramatic historical story. But okay, I accept my marginal position here. Let's go back to the beginning. It's understandable that historical films have to edit facts for the purposes of dramatization, poeticization, gleichschaltung, bagatelling visual information, but how am I then to understand that all of this is done in service to perhaps the most boring film I've ever seen. God, I was bored! Nero wasn't this bored, Oblomov wasn't as bored as I was during this movie. The whole thing looks like one of those cheesy fiction documentaries, and if it were less well lit, I'd expect Marek Eben to come out from around the corner any minute. The cheapness of the sets, the databank music (medieval_north_theme_drama.flac), making the protagonist a modern progressive heroine, and the instant "dynamic scenes" that were obviously shot for the trailer because they didn't need to be in the film at all and look mostly terrible, constantly take away from the illusion of the period. When the film returned for the third time to the same room shot from the same three angles, I experienced a long-held fear of looking to see how much running time was still left, and for the fifth time I had to apply eye drops to make it to the end. Mercy! For some people, just seeing people walking around a movie in leather must truly be enough to satisfy them. (05/10/2022)

Queen Margrete I of Denmark has united Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a union where peace and quality is maintained, when suddenly a man who claims to be her son enters her life. Charlotte Sieling is not only a director but also a screenwriter. She has sensitively and interestingly brought her understanding of the subject to the screen. The story is enlivened by several plot lines interweaving the film's central characters - King Eric, Bishop Peder and other Union representatives - and the various plot elements surprisingly complete the climax of the story. The film's main strength is that it does not impose an opinion on the viewer as to how to view the whole story, and so the viewer is free to decide what conclusion the film ends up with for them. I was also impressed by the spectacular shots and the beautiful Nordic landscape. A Danish film based on a legend with no clear ending, it is not only an excellent insight into Scandinavian history, but also a wonderful spectacle. It offers never-ending suspense and interest, an excellent cast and an intriguing story that is unparalleled in the world. Charlotte Sieling has created an outstanding film that is capable of international attention and winning awards at festivals across the globe. (06/12/2023)