Directed by Charlotte Sieling
Starring Trine Dyrholm, Søren Malling, Morten Hee Andersen, Jakob Oftebro

Boy oh boy, what a time to be alive! It’s 1364, Ol’ King Erik is engaged to who I’m sure is a very mature eight-year-old, and wouldn’t you know it… the Queen’s long-dead biological son Olaf has randomly been spotted in Norway and is on his way home. Sweet! Oh – and the Sweden-Denmark-Norway Union is expanding as this little bride-to-be just so happens to be a princess, married off in the name of a truce with Great Britain. Couldn’t be better!

But wait… Olaf is dead. Dag nabbit! Now we have to solve this mystery and Queen Margrete is pretty sure that this ain’t her son. She does kind of miss him though… and it’s only reasonable that she holds a public trial to quell mounting curiosity in order to restore Britain’s faith in her monarchy’s stability. Unfortunately, King Erik, Margrete’s sister’s grandson who looked enough like Olaf that he was (in broad strokes here) the perfect replacement, doesn’t like this commotion making such a ruckus during the happiest day of his life. Now he’s willing to take drastic measures to prevent the limelight drifting off his blossoming love life. Meanwhile, the Queen’s envoy travels to enemy Germany to definitively prove who this new-Olaf is.

Is this setup enough to destabilise a continent? You are going to have to either watch Margrete: Queen of the North or read up on your history there, because this one’s based on a true story. And you’d best not doubt this film’s commitment to recreating the era, because this one is not for the faint hearted. In what some would call a Greek tragedy, and what I’d call depressingly inspirational, very distasteful characters and outcomes are necessary to prevent the collapse of civilisation in this blossoming world.

Blossoming as a descriptor is potent in the context of this film; Denmark is a beautiful place. The sprawling landscapes and wind-whipped vistas are fully taken advantage of make for some of the best cinematography I’ve seen without a green screen in a long time. The castles, the beaches, the woods, the battles… I was not in the least surprised to discover that this is one of the largest productions to come out of the country, and I’m a big fan.

I’m a fan of the era, I’m a fan of the chivalry found in a kingdom ruled by a Queen in what was otherwise despicable times, and I’m a fan of Denmark’s rich and vibrant history. While I would prefer to leave the children out of bride’s dresses, these are the kind of discomforts Queen of the North does not shy away from

Margrete – Queen of the North is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from July 14th – August 7th as part of the 2022 Carlsberg Scandinavian Film Festival.

Moviedoc thanks Miranda Brown Publicity for the invite to the screening of this film.

Reviewed by Zak Wheeler for Moviedoc

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