The Girl King

I wanted to enjoy this movie, but it was infuriating to have so much spoken French. I say F#&K Y@U to the director for not providing translations. I couldn't find a single subtitle that translated the French parts to English, and it pissed me off every time they started talking in French. The story is about a brilliant Swedish queen who was far ahead of her time, much to the dismay of her peers. Malin Buska was good. Sarah Godon was beautiful. I enjoyed the parts I could understand.

This is no Queen Christina (1933) which Greta Grabo made eternal. Looks a little too cheap to match the splendour of old Hollywood to tell the story of Sweden's queen of the 1600s. But The Girl King (2015) is a reasonable lesser attempt. While the '33 film focused on a alleged heterosexual affair, this film focusing on a better documented alleged lesbian relationship with Ebba Sparre. More with the times, I guess.

Certainly a more serious attempt at historical... if not necessarily correctness, then at least weight, than Queen Christina (1933). The low budget fits the paltry court it's set at, and there are ideas of power running through it, though it still insists on a love story at the centre, albeit a lesbian one. Requires a certain tolerance for bad accents.