It does a fine job of dramatizing the pure power of ideas and the attraction of like minds. And what happens when those ideas, and that attraction, runs counter to the pleasures of the most powerful man in the land.
- Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger, November 09, 2012
"A Royal Affair" is basically a good-looking set of historical Cliffs Notes.
- Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post, November 09, 2012
This highly polished costume drama is exceptionally well-made and a model of intelligent restraint, but it is also unapologetically earnest and a bit on the bloodless side.
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, November 08, 2012
With its sumptuous settings, urgent romance and intellectual substance, A Royal Affair is a mind-opener crossed with a bodice-ripper.
- Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal, November 08, 2012
A fascinating, stately thriller.
- Tom Long, Detroit News, November 21, 2012
A crowned-heads soap opera that balances effectively between pomp and melodramatic circumstance.
- Ty Burr, Boston Globe, November 21, 2012
Even appreciated simply as a little-known chapter of European history, it proves consistently engrossing, edifying and affecting.
- Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, November 16, 2012
"A Royal Affair" is an engaging and entertaining film, one that might have been great, if only the history were different.
- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, November 15, 2012
The film moves along crisply, looks great and stimulates the brain (I am a sucker for torrid romances propelled by quotes from Rousseau and Voltaire.)
- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 15, 2012
A Royal Affair is historical drama of the highest order - teeming with big ideas, and anchored by the nicely nuanced performances of Vikander and Mikkelsen.
- Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 15, 2012
Director Nikolaj Arcel gets outstanding performances from all three of the principals, which enlivens the whole affair considerably.
- Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic, November 15, 2012
The film tells an intimate story with an enormous amount of grace.
- John Anderson, Newsday, November 15, 2012
The storytelling ... is kind of amazing.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly, November 14, 2012
'Affair' is disappointingly conventional, much too decorous and, at two hours-plus, sometimes just plain dull.
- Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies, November 13, 2012
A Royal Affair covers plenty of stately ground, all in good time.
- Claudia Puig, USA Today, November 29, 2012
What a piece of work is this historical drama.
- Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post, December 07, 2012
The film ends not on a happy note, naturally, but on a moment of hope. Love may not conquer all, but it has a power all its own.
- Connie Ogle, Miami Herald, January 18, 2013
For all its incident, A Royal Affair is slow and picturesquely framed - more of a languorously animated coffee-table book than a gripping drama.
- Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail, February 01, 2013
A tragic love story, beautifully told.
- Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times, November 20, 2012
Perhaps there's only so much to be done with a costume drama about illicit affairs and would-be coups.
- Michael Nordine, L.A. Weekly, January 02, 2013
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