Margrete: Queen of the North

Karmar Union of Norway, Sweden (included Finland) & Denmark headed by Queen Margrete (Margaret) of Denmark (ruled from 1380s until 1412). Wary of Germany an English royalty daughter, Philippa (age about 12), in 1406 is married to King Erik (adopted son of Margrete) to provide an alliance with England. Margrete's birth son, Olaf, is the main mystery when he shows up after 15 years, after supposedly dying, to claim the throne. A good job of cramming a lot of potentially confusing history into 2 hours.

I think this is he best medieval age movie made in Scandinavia so far, and tells the story about when Queen Margrete I was told she lost her son to the plague, and then he turned up many years later. Or did he?

She was quit convinced but noone seemed to recognize him as grown up.

He was also the single heir, and was claiming the throne, which was seen as an opportunity for an impostor.

Well played, great storytelling as well as perfect setting.

In early 15th century Scandanavia, Queen Magrete has brought peace and unity to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, aided by a touch of paradoxically good fortune: following the death of her natural son, she has been able to adopt a generally acceptable heir. Now she is on the brink of arranging his marriage to the daughter of the King of England, an alliance that will protect the Union against the German threat; when someone inconveniently turns up in court, claiming to be the missing King. Based on (but not strictly following) a true story, it's a terrific film, capturing the way that power in the middle ages was fundamentally personal, and presenting the Queen sympathetically but (as you might expect of someone who acheived so much) not without her own sense of ruthlessless. In some ways what we see is the sort of world that 'Game of Thrones' attempted to create, but without the softening effects of myth.

A correct historical film, seductive for admirable acting of Trine Dyrholm, for atmosphere and for structure of story.

A queen and her duties. The peace, with hard effort created, and its fragility. Two sons and an union . Questions about power, legitimity and a marriage.

The result is a correct film, the fiction reigning , the historical facts being used as start points.

The great virtue - the fair construction of tension, the clothes and dances and the smart structure of intrigue , at each level.

In short, a beautiful Dansk film , seductive for the peace message, for portrait of strong and powerful woman and, sure, for the admirable Trine Dyrholm and Soren Malling. Many familiar scenes and the history in its essence.

With the Kalmar Union still in it's infancy, Queen Margrete (Trine Dyrholm) is trying to keep the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians aligned under the nominal kingship of her adopted son Erik (Morten Hee Andersen) in the face of the increasing fear of aggression from the neighbouring Germans. This task is suddenly made much more difficult when a pretender to his throne is unveiled. This gent (Jakob Oftebro) claims to be the son of the queen, and though she certainly had a son it was thought that he had been murdered many years earlier. The Norwegians are quick to support this new claim, but she is less inclined to panic and/or to execute summary justice - and that rouses suspicions about the stranger's true identity amidst the nobles and manages to antagonise her adopted son who has no intention of surrendering his throne. Adding to the pressures building on the Queen, Erik is set to marry the daughter of King Henry IV of England to cement a relationship that could help guarantee everyone's safety - but will the English want their royal dynasty married into the wrong family? Gradually, we all realise that there has been quite a degree of conspiring and lying going on for many years that spreads right to the heart of not just the kingdom, but to an influential church that cannot be guaranteed to do the right thing if it's not in it's own interests. This is quite a well produced and paced historical drama that illustrates quite engagingly the difficulties faced by anyone in holding together this loose confederation of warring nations. The fact that she was a woman doesn't appear to have inhibited her power, indeed her guile and shrewdness appear to have been quite well respected by those who appreciated her goals for unity and peace. To that end Dyrholm delivers competently, as does Søren Malling as the duplicitous priest and a solid supporting cast. It's perhaps a little verbose and also a little tame at times, but it's a period of history that is interesting to discover more about as the viking nations emerged from their raping and pillaging phase into something altogether more cohesive and important in the grand scheme of European politics. It's worth a watch if you're interested in (theatrical) Nordic history.