Mika
Kaurismaki's new film The Girl King might surprise viewers who are familiar
with “Queen Christina”, the 1933 historical drama starring Hollywood legend
Greta Garbo. The highly romanticized Garbo film presents the young 17th-century
Swedish queen as a heterosexual in love with a Spanish envoy, who was played by
John Gilbert, Garbo's real-life partner. Completely ignored in 1933 was the
fact that the Queen was a lesbian. “The Girl King” tells the rest of the
Queen's story.
“The Girl
King” is a sumptuous visual feast that transports its viewers back to the days
of Christina's reign. Kaurismaki's camera glides effortlessly through castle
halls, across wintry landscapes, and into the soul of the lead character. The
film paints an accurate portrait of Christina's love for art and literature,
and of her determination to lead her people to peace after the devastating
Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants. Some of these themes were
touched upon in the Garbo film, and Garbo, one of the most mesmerizing stars of
Hollywood's Golden Age, gave a wonderful performance in her version of the
story.
In “The Girl
King”, the Queen (Malin Buska) turns down a marriage proposal fairly early in
the film. Christina's eyes gaze lovingly upon Countess Ebba Sparre (Sarah
Gadon), the fiancée to one of her noblemen. That love is reciprocated, and the
story of these two women becomes the heart of “The Girl King.”
The film
lets viewers know how ahead of her time the youthful queen was. A feminist by
any definition of the word, Christina walks to the beat of her own drum. She
wears men's clothing and engages in sword fights. She doesn't care what her
advisers think. She's incapable of being anyone other than who her heart tells
her she must be.
"It was
fantastic to take her inside of me and to be her," Swedish native Buska
said. "And to do this part after Greta Garbo."
Buska added
that she had read some of Christina's actual diaries. "I walked around the
streets that she walked around and visited places that she lived in," she
said, as she described her preparation for the role. "
Buska added
that though there's been a cultural shift in society since Garbo's time, there
can still be many obstacles to overcome. "The story is about love,"
the actress said. "Gender and sexuality don't matter. It's weird that such
a thing can still be so difficult. It's important to portray the character as a
free spirit who went her own way--I really wanted to tell the truth about
her."
As part of
their research, both Buska and her director watched the Garbo version and felt
that it was important to tell Christina's whole story, including the aspects of
her life that were ignored by MGM during the more conservative 1930s.
"I saw
it a couple of times," said Kaurismaki. "I didn't watch it again
recently---I did not want my film to be a remake. I wanted to make a different
film. She had a revolutionary life. It shouldn't only be about the love story.
That's important, but it should be about her whole life."
The auteur
feels that people today can see Christina as a role model. "Young people
will see her as such," he said. "Look at what's happening in the
world today."
"I
wanted to create a modern and rebellious figure not a conventional period
piece," Kaurismaki said. "Christina wanted to stop wars and bring art
and culture to the people. Christina's ideas were shocking to the older ruling
class. They wanted to keep their power."
Greta Garbo,
the filmmaker reports, wanted to portray a more accurate portrayal of
Christina. "We found out that Garbo wanted to make a different film,"
he said. "She wanted to do the love story between the two women. But
Hollywood of the 1930s was not ready for that. So they did a conventional love
story between a man and a woman. I think the film we made is the film that
Garbo wanted to make."
“The Girl
King”, rated R16 without cuts, will be screened in select cinemas beginning
June 1st, brought to you by Solar Pictures.
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