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Film Review: Queen of Hearts

11/9/2019

Off with her head!

Something is rotten in this home in Denmark. In the new film by May El-Toukhy, Queen of Hearts follows a lawyer and wife named Anne (Trine Dyrholm), who has built a perfect life for herself, her husband (Magnus Krepper), and her twin daughters. One day, her husband's son from her first marriage, Gustav (Gustav Lindh), comes to live with her family. After some time with the troubled teenager, Anne soon finds herself drawn to Gustav and begins an illicit and secretive relationship with the boy. As they grow more and more reckless, their relationship threatens to destroy their lives, their reputations, and worst of all, themselves.

The film, which is Denmark's official entry for the Best Foreign Language film category for the next Academy Awards, plays out a lot of the familiar tropes of secretive, age-gap romances. It's shot beautifully, with Anne's home nestled in the gorgeous countryside. Both she and Gustav are highly attractive and sexualized, with long shots of them in various states of dress. Likewise, the film builds up how such a dangerous and predatory relationship can occur, as Gustav is troubled and desires some parental affection, while Anne is in a rough spot with her husband and stressed from her daily life of dealing with victims of horrible crimes and a somewhat distant husband.

What Queen of Hearts doesn't forget is that the above relationship, no matter how alluring and sexy it may seem in some respects, is still incredible dysfunctional and hurtful to all parties involved. The film never shies away from the fact that Anne is the one who initiates the affair, constantly buying Gustav's affection with gifts and promises. She has way more to lose than him, but she's the one who is often pulling him into sexual liaisons and taking control in the film's many sex scenes. Much like the titular Queen of Hearts, Anne is someone who has control of her home, and the ability to make others do what she chooses, whether it's her bringing her clients home to prepare for cases or choosing what music plays when they have company over.

The film is definitely a grim piece, one anchored by some very strong performances. Trine Dyrholm takes complete control of the story with her layered and slightly terrifying performance. She manages to make Anne both sympathetic and very dangerous, able to turn her emotions to whatever can benefit her the most in any moment. It's a very Shakespearean sort of role, where one moment she can be a sweet wife and mother and the next a sexually dominant gas lighter.

Queen of Hearts is definitely not a film for just anyone, but it's still a beautiful and haunting film about the abuses of power and the use of the female body and role to maintain it. While the film does suffer at times from some slow scenes, it's still a dark drama that examines just how far someone can go to have everything, even if it manages to ruin everything around them without completely destroying their life in the process.