THE GIRL KING HAS MORE PARADOXES THAN THE TITLE
Queen Christina of Sweden (played by Malin Buska) arose to the throne on the death of her father Adolf in 1632 when she was 6 years old, but she is now one of only three women buried at the Vatican. Her path is brought to the screen in The Girl King by director Director Mika Kaurismäki. She is brought up as a child with the ability to fence, ride horseback, read philosophy, appreciate fine art and music, and wear masculine clothing, as she appeared to be male when born. She is also brainwashed out of her Catholic faith. But when crowned king (!) at age 18, Protestant Sweden (though mostly filmed in Finland) is vying for control of Catholic territories while she proposes negotiations for the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648. Sleeping alone in cold Stockholm, she has ladies in waiting to keep her warm, but finds herself falling in love with one of them, Countess Ebba Sparre (Sara Gadon). Confused about her emotions, she corresponds with René Descartes (Patrick Bauchau) to the point of attracting him to visit Sweden, where he gets sick, perhaps is poisoned, and dies. But her love affair is not well received at the court, so a decision is made, perhaps by Chancellor Johan Oxenstiernato (Michael Nygvist), to have a man propose to Ebba. Christina becomes despondent, decides to convert to Catholicism, and leaves for Rome with one-third of the treasure of the kingdom. Half the film is happy, especially when as queen she pledges to make Sweden the most sophisticated country in Europe, so the dark side comes as a surprise that the film tries to make explicable. The Political Film Society has nominated The Girl King as best film exposé of 2015. MH