Finland, Germany, Canada · 2015
1h 46m
Director Mika Kaurismäki
Starring Malin Buska, Sarah Gadon, Michael Nyqvist, Lucas Bryant
Genre Drama, History, Romance
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A portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.
The attempt to make an intimate, multi-stranded story out of this royal episode is appreciated, especially given its subplots which effectively compare with Kristina's own struggle between independence and duty, but the gripping central performances lack a proper foundation.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Brad Wheeler
Malin Buska – the Swedish Kirsten Dunst? – is highly watchable as the Descartes-loving ruler, but Canada’s Sarah Gadon as the sheet-warming lady-in-waiting is given little to do but look naive and dumbstruck.
It’s hectic, unsubtle, borderline cartoonish.
Los Angeles Times by Katie Walsh
The greatest appeal of The Girl King lies in the fascinating historical character and the formidable actress portraying her.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
This plumply preposterous film from director Mika Kaurismäki (brother of Aki) is an unconvincing and solemn account of the controversially mannish Queen Kristina and her secret sapphic yearnings in 17th-century Sweden.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
Reclaiming Kristina as an icon of queer liberation and female empowerment is a worthwhile premise, but sadly the finished film is a stodgy multinational pudding that fails to give this concept wings.
Time Out London by Tom Huddleston
This is bland, shallow and totally unconvincing, veering between cartoonish overstatement and outright tedium.
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