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A favorite of directors Thomas Vinterberg and Susanne Bier, Dyrholm invests Margrete with the measured stoicism of a Dame Judi Dench and the guarded compassion of a Meryl Streep, to compelling effect. In a bid to shore up protection of the Nordic Union against threatening German hostility, Margrete has been brokering the marriage between her adopted son, King Erik (Morten Hee Andersen) and Philippa, daughter of English King Henry IV. Sieling co-wrote the script with Jesper Fink (“Before the Frost”) and Maya Ilsøe (“The Legacy”). The film was co-produced by Filmkameratene (Norway), Truenorth (Iceland), Sirena Film (Czech Republic) and Film i Väst (Sweden), with support from the Danish Film Institute, TV 2, Swedish Film Institute, Norwegian Film Institute, Icelandic Film Centre, among others.
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At first glance, the claim appears to be preposterous—it cannot be mere coincidence that he should turn up just as the all-important wedding is about to commence—and Margrete believes that he's an imposter. However, other people in power are convinced the newcomer is actually who he says he is, threatening to throw both the wedding and the fragile alliance between the countries into doubt. When Margrete learns that no one actually saw Oluf’s body after his alleged death, she's forced to confront the possibility that his story is true. With only a few days before everything that she has worked for collapses around her, Margrete sends off a couple of trusted advisors to look into the story and does some nosing around on her own. Meanwhile, the increasingly frustrated Erik lets power go to his head and finds himself unwittingly being manipulated by a number of people who wish to seize control for themselves. Over the following days, Margrete finds herself faced with a horrible dilemma.
Charlotte Sieling • Director of Margrete – Queen of the North
To further stabilize the new Union’s position in Europe, Margrete has negotiated the betrothal of Erik to Philippa, the 13-year-old daughter of the King of England. She arrives at court along with rakish diplomat Bourcier (Paul Blackthorn), who has been sent to negotiate the terms of the marriage. But that very same night, reports run rife through Margrete’s lavish welcome party that a man claiming to be Margrete’s son Oluf, thought to have died some 15 years prior, has suddenly shown up nearby and the Norwegian emissary has already recognized him, and not Erik, as the rightful King. Margete has the man (Jakob Oftebro) summoned and denounces him as a liar in front of the court. It doesn’t help that after a tantalizing glimpse of a body-strewn battlefield that teases a more action-packed narrative than is delivered, the film quickly settles into a more sedate rhythm, establishing the wise statesmanship of Queen Margrete (Trine Dyrholm).
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It’s now more important than ever because we’re more lonely now than ever. Stories and characters can invite an audience into a moment, to encounter things that we can’t talk about, and maybe we don’t understand, but we can recognise them and feel that we’re not alone in carrying them. It’s important that art is about carrying it together, about understanding and recognising moments that we can’t talk about, and therefore we have art to discuss these issues. Additionally, this is the first real gala premiere since before Covid.
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Forty years later, and Margrete, now queen, has successfully united Denmark, Norway and Sweden under her rule, thereby founding the Kalmar Union and bringing a decade of peace to a region hitherto wracked by constant warfare. It was one of the largest productions in the history of Danish cinema, enjoying the largest budget ever for a Danish-language feature film.[4][5] It premiered on 16 September 2021. As we age, the emotions a character experiences, such as pain, joy, hope, and despair resonate more strongly with us. Whereas to our younger selves, these were simply dramatic concepts. This makes the experience of watching films uncomfortable because we sense and identify with realism. But her reign also saw a bizarre mystery in the Scandinavian region, which forms the emotional beating heart of this stately film.
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Margrete: Queen of the North (
On the other hand, her monarchical rationality questioned if he was merely an impostor sent to her doorsteps to disrupt a sought-after alliance with England. Dyrholm, whose credits also include Susanne Bier’s Oscar winner “In a Better World” and May el-Toukhy’s “Queen of Hearts,” toplines as Margrete the First, who is considered the most powerful ruler in Scandinavian history, as she gathered Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a peace-oriented union. Too bad that the same cannot be said for the film as a whole. While the basic outline of the story is intriguing, the screenplay by Sieling and co-writers Maya Ilsee and Jesper Fink never quite figures out how to make it compelling in cinematic terms. Outside of Margrete herself, the other characters have not been developed especially well, and it becomes hard to work up much interest in all of the intrigues and betrayals on display.
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If we think about being together, and holding onto our differences, but at least helping each other, instead of the opposite, it’s a powerful thought. Still, you have chosen Haugesund for the world premiere. Because this thoroughly Scandinavian story needs a thoroughly Scandinavian place of unveiling. When we were offered this opportunity, I just said yes, that’s it!
Margrete: Queen of the North review – piercing portrait of a tormented queen
We’d go out to buy takeaway and then go back to the basement of the hotel where we were allowed to eat together, and it made it special. I agree with your thought that it’s a place we need to go, to be there together and build a strong spirit, so we can be strong spiritual people. Otherwise, it’ll be two dimensional and that’s very sad. But the queen’s gambit is derailed with the arrival of a man (Jakob Oftebro) claiming to be her biological son, Olaf, believed to have died 15 years earlier. Margrete (masterfully portrayed by Trine Dyrholm), who reigned from the late 1380s until her death in 1412, was known as a wise and just leader who pulled off what her male counterparts couldn’t — the establishment of a long-lasting peaceful alliance between Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Margrete: Queen of the North
It is implied that, with Scandinavian unity restored, the Teutonic Order calls off its planned invasion. Margrete eventually has a flash of inspiration and realises that the Man from Graudenz's story about an attempt on his life might be the root of the rumours that she had her son killed. She never gave any such order, and there is only one other person who would have had the authority to do so in her stead. She confronts Peder, who admits that he ordered Oluf's retainer to murder him and explains that he acted for the greater good, as Oluf would never have been an acceptable ruler for the Swedes in the way Margrete has been. It was therefore necessary to get rid of Oluf so that Margrete could retain power in Denmark-Norway and then take control of Sweden as well, thereby completing the Kalmar Union and finally bringing peace to Scandinavia.
Cinema creates a safe space where borders are broken down and the emphasis on political, cultural, and economic divisions are neutralised. It also offers sanctuary from a society that’s seeing a rise in individualism and nationalism. In conversation with PopMatters, Sieling and Dyrholm discuss reinvigorating the clichés of the middle ages to tell a modern story out of the past. Throughout, both the character and the film constantly keep one guessing as to whether Margrete’s driving impulse leans more in the direction of the maternal or the Machiavellian. Sieling maintains an equally firm handle on the potent material, but it’s the title performance by Dyrholm that makes it sizzle.
By the time "Margrete" gets to its grand finale, what should have made for a shocking and powerful moment will inspire little more than a shrug from most viewers. Aside from the design departments, the craft MVP here is probably DP Rasmus Videbæk, whose magisterial camerawork makes the candlelit interiors feel as imposing as the sweeping landscapes, to the accompaniment of Jon Ekstrand’s elegant, classical score. But the very magnificence of the whole production, from its smorgasbord of Nordic acting talent to its self-conscious lionization of a remarkable woman wielding immense power within an otherwise suffocatingly male environment, also serves a more contemporary agenda. At one point, Margrete rescues a young woman, Astrid (Agnes Westerlund Rase) and pointedly reminds the pirate who captured her that rape is a hanging offense.
When you travel with a film, you realise that even though people belong to different cultures, there are those things that we all connect with. It’s existential, and it doesn’t have to do with religion, or, what you believe in, or, cultural ideas. I can have a different experience when I watch a Chinese film, but there are still universal moments I can connect with if it’s a good film. I can still understand something about a different culture.
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