Some 10 months after Nikolaj Arcel's A ROYAL AFFAIR world premiered in Berlin, taking home two Silver Bears (Best Actor, Best Script), the film, which is Denmark´s official entry for the Academy Award´s® Best Foreign Language Film, continues conquering both audience and critics worldwide. After breaking records in the UK and Australia as the highest grossing Danish language film of all time A ROYAL AFFAIR opened in France Nov. 21st and has after three weeks reached 150.056 admissions.
"A ROYAL AFFAIR is very well received by the cinema programmers, the press and the audience in France. There are still over 130 prints going 3 weeks after the release and we are delighted with the results” says Sarah Chazelle, co-founder of the French distribution arm JOUR2FETE.
In its first week A ROYAL AFFAIR reached 443 admissions per print, again breaking records compared to other Danish classics such as THE CELEBRATION (1998) and IN A BETTER WORLD (2010).
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, who's just been selected as one of the 10 Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion, A ROYAL AFFAIR is also winning hearts across the Atlantic.
In the US it has won the Audience Award in the World Cinema category at the AFI Fest, the Broadcast Film Critics Association has just nominated it for a Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Foreign Film and as the only foreign language film represented, A ROYAL AFFAIR has been nominated for 3 International Press Academy´s Satellite Awards - the first Danish film to ever earn that honor. Magnolia Pictures released the film on November 11th, expanding from 7 screens in New York and Los Angeles to 41 screens, receiving press reactions such as:
“With its sumptuous settings, urgent romance and intellectual substance, "A Royal Affair" is a mind-opener crossed with a bodice-ripper. Superbly entertaining and sumptuously produced.”
Wall Street Journal
“The Enlightenment Brings Sexy Back. A slam dunk in the genre, satisfying every period piece craving. A ROYAL AFFAIR enthralls where many historical dramas start to sag. Nothing beats a well told tale of scandals past that you´ve never heard before.”
Time
”Gorgeous great Dane ‘Affair'.”
New York Post
“This highly polished costume drama is exceptionally well-made and a model of intelligent restraint, but it is also unapologetically earnest and a bit on the bloodless side.”
Los Angeles Times
“A Royal Affair looks sumptuous and contains meaty, provocative ideas. It's a feast of a film, one that will send you scurrying for background on the real people behind this true story.”
Huffington Post
“Director Nikolaj Arcel, who also co-wrote the screenplay, stages the action in a brisk, modern mode that makes A Royal Affair easily digestible and satisfying. If you think costume pictures have to be stiff, or stuffy, this film should dispel any such notions.”
IndieWire, Leonard Martin´s blog
“First rate. Ever so much more than a historical romance."
Roger Ebert, Chicago SunTimes
Producing trio of A ROYAL AFFAIR consists of Louise Vesth, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, and Meta Louise Foldager for Zentropa Entertainments. Executive producers are Lars von Trier, Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Peter Garde. Screenplay is written by Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Videbæk is director of photography, composers are Gabriel Yared and Cyrille Aufort, editors are Mikkel E.G. Nielsen and Kasper Leick, Niels Sejer is behind production design and Manon Rasmussen behind costumes. The film is produced by Zentropa Entertainments28 in cooperation with Trollhättan Film AB and Film i Väst in Sweden, Sirena Film in The Czech Republic and Zentropa Entertainments Berlin. The film is also supported by West Danish Film Fund, Swedish Television, Czech Film Commission under Ministerstvo Kultury, MDM Leipzig Film Fund, Nordisk Film & TV-Fond, Eurimages and The Media Programme of the European Union. A ROYAL AFFAIR is budgeted at €6m and has been supported by The Danish Film Institute and Eurimages. Nordisk Film is domestic distributor, while TrustNordisk handles international sales.