selenak

I couldn't watch this in the cinema, but it's on Amazon Prime now in my part of the world, and the subject intrigued me, so now I've watched this movie about Margaret I. of Denmark, who ruled Denmark, Norway and Sweden and was the founder of the Kalmar Union, holding these Kingdoms together. The film is directed by Charlotte Sieling, and Margrete is played by Trine Dryholm, who is fabulous in the role.

Still frustratingly unusual in a movie about a female historic character, let alone one who's a powerful politician, there is no romantic storyline for her. At all. (The English envoy makes a pass early on and is elegantly shot down, and I suspect that scene is solely there to make it clear that Margrete, who is middle-aged int his film, is still an attractive woman but chooses to put her focus elsewhere.) So what's it about? "Inspired by true events" (that ambitgious disclaimer), the film has her start at what seems to be the peak of her achievements: the three kingdoms have come together, her chosen successor Erik (originally her great nephew whom she adopted after the death of her only son) is about to get married to the English King's daughter in order to conclude an alliance with England (btw, the King in question is only named late in the movie - it's Henry IV, aka Bolingbroke, for Shakespeare version Richard II afficiniandos, so Erik is about to marry Hal's kid sister). Which is when a mysterious man shows up claiming to be her dead-since-15-years son Olav, therefore the true King, and it all threatens to come crashing down. Providing exterior menace but rarely on screen are the Prussia-based Knights of hte Teutonic Order with designs on Gothland. (That's why Margrete wants the English alliance.) Mind you, the movie simplifies this to "the Germans", and at one point a Little Bad hisses he speaks for "all the Germans", which even before googling Margrete made me snort and say "not in the 14tth and early 15th century you don't, no one did". The 14th century was full of German kings and rival kings - mostly Luxemburgs and Wittelsbachs - vying for the top job as King and often not even making it to the Imperial Throne before a rival showed up. The HRE was in a pretty messy state, and only in the next century would the Habsburgs manage to not just get a candidate on the throne for a brief while but establish a long term hold on it. Wiki tells me that in rl Margrete didn't just adopt Erik but also his sister Catherine and married Catherine to a south German prince to have a counterweight to the North Germans who did give her trouble. But I can understand why the movie siimplifies this, not least because the exterior foe isn't really important beyond providing a threat and an urgent need for unity.

First, the story of the mystery man sounds completely fake (he claims to have been kidnapped by he knows not whom and held prisoner for fifteen years and then freed by he knows not whom), and she's certain he's a Teutonic Order plant. But it catches on, and Margrete herself - who wasn't present when her son Olav died, and never saw his dead body - starts to waver in her certainty that this can't be her son while also seeing the disastrous effect a possible Olav return has on all she's carefully built. Thus, the movie establishes the core dilemma for its heroine: not just finding out whether or not this could/should be her son but how to save her life's work, the union of the three countries, given all the different agendas at court immediately explode into factions and various schemes are afoot, which as the film continues simplifies itself to: being a mother vs being a queen. At one point I thought the film was leaving Margrete off the hook concerning the inevitable decision she had to face, but no, the twist which I was frowning at because it felt like chickening out was instead making the choice even harsher for her, and she did have to choose. Trine Dryholm is fantastic in this part. Indeed, if I have a nitpick, then that Margrete overshadows everyone else to the point where none of the other characters feel as real. The various scheming courtiers don't really go beyond basic traits, and the only supporting character getting some more screentime for characterisation is Erik who is progressively more agitated and insecure as the Olav mystery continues and thus prone to manipulation. The other female characters with lines (not many lines) are: a maid Margrete employs to spy, one that is employed by a third party to spy on Margrete, and Philippa the child bride who has only one scene. Both or either of the maids could have been interesting if we'd found out more about what they make of the events, provide a non-noble perspective on them, but we don't get that.

This said, it's really just a minor nitpick because the film completely carried me with it through its central character and the choices she makes throughout. This is not a story which can have a happy ending, and it doesn't. But it can have, and does, an ending that feels right for a woman like the fascinating one this movie gives us.