EHRENGARD: THE ART OF SEDUCTION

Denmark, 2023, 93 minutes, Colour.

Alice Bier Zanden, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Mikkel Boe Folsgaard, Emilie Kroyer Koppel, Emil Aron Dorph, Kit Eichler, Jacob Hojlev Jorgensen, Alban Lendorf, Jacob Lohmann, Christopher Laesse, Lone Rodbore, Sarah-Marie Maltha.

Directed by Bille August.

While the title is accurate in its way, it is also misleading. This is more of a European costume fairytale rather than an erotic story. It has been directed by the eminent director, Bille August (The House of the Spirits, Pelle the Conqueror).

The film is very picturesque, costumes and decor, palaces, space and grounds, the interiors. It is very pleasing to look at.

We are introduced to Ehrengard at the beginning of the film, skilful with the rapier, duelling with her fiance. Then the action moves to a painter with the Grand Duchess sitting, impatient, flirtatious. This leads us into the story of the ruling family, preserving their heritage from jealous rivals, the Duchess concerned about her son, the only heir, who shows no interest in marriage. She entrusts the painter with the task of grooming her son – which he does when he goes to paint a family portrait, choosing the youngest daughter, the son falling in love, the girl becoming pregnant before the wedding.

Ehrengard enters the narrative again, making critical comments of the painter’s portrait of the Duchess, accompanied by her stiff military father.

The main part of the story is the protection of the heir and his wife, her pregnancy kept secret, the artist again controlling everything, a remote mansion, servants, ultimately a wet nurse, and the choice of Ehrengard as the young woman’s companion. She fulfils the role perfectly – and is always strikingly dressed in white.

The artist has expressed his attraction to Ehrengard to the Duchess and she has made a wager that he will not be able to win her affections. In his many attempts, Ehrengard disdainful, he paints her bathing in the mornings of the lake, but she overhears his conversation with the Duchess and is determined to thwart him.

Many touches of farce in the proceedings, the rival family spying, the husband of the wet nurse revealing the truth, an outdoor picnic, Ehrengard’s fiance challenging the artist to a duel (and his accidentally shooting himself in the foot), and a generally happy ending for all, the Duchess having a liaison with the artist, winning a bet – and he going off thinking that he is Casanova.

Enjoyment of this variation on a fairytale will depend on taste.

1. Period costume drama? Overtones of fairytales? Overtones of romances? Comedy and farce?
2. Danish perspective, Danish story, the work of the director over the decades? Dramas, epics, the light touch? The cast?
3. The title, emphasis on art, on seduction, the underlying serious theme, but the light and farcical touch and exploration and dramatising it? And, at the end, the artist as Casanova?
4. The location photography, the Queen of Denmark and her work in cutting out scenes, putting them together, studio bound locations? Castles, the interiors, the countryside, the mountains? Costumes and decor? The musical score?
5. Ehrengard, the opening, skilling fencing, turning the tables, relationship with Kurt? Her strong character? As background for the later story?
6. The Grand Duchess, posing for the portrait, the artist, fastidious, her keeping still, her dress, her amorous attack on him? Her relationship with her elderly husband? Concerned about her son, seeing him at play with the women? His lack of interest in marriage? The situation, her husband outwitting his rivals, the rival family and their wanting power, her commissioning the artist to open up her son’s horizons?
7. The pomp and circumstance of the family, yet a small Duchy, the fairytale aspects, the realistic aspects of power and intrigue?
8. The artist, his background, his skills, flirtatious? Owing money, the landlady, paying, the commission by the Grand Duchess? His accepting the task, his wager about the seduction of Ehrengard?
9. His being invited to the party, the portrait, people admiring, Ehrengard her father, liking the painting but not liking it? The artist reaction? The later encounter with her, pretending that he did not remember her? His infatuation, the decision for the seduction, methods and tactics, patient, the wager with the Grand Duchess?
10. Taking the Prince with him, the family, the portrait of the daughters, his building up the image of his assistant, Ludmilla, her age, attracted to the Prince, their time together, falling in love? The wedding, the rival family upset? Then the discovery that she was pregnant?
11. The plan, going into seclusion, the mansion, hiring the cook, the gardener, the artist supervising everything, the request to Ehrengard to be companion, her father acceding to the request? The prince, secrecy? Ludmilla and the secrecy? The going to the mansion, enjoying the time away?
12. Ehrengard always in white, strength of character, wary of the artist, bonding with the Princess, paving, the artist seeing her, the painting, ambitions, his watching her in the lake? Her overhearing his conversation with the Grand Duchess, the plan, the seduction, her going to his room, finding the nude sketches, taking them, Ehrengard using them against him?
13. The pregnancy, the birth, Matthias and Lisbeth, in the village, the wet nurse? Matthias, his drinking, upset? The rival couple, being excluded, going to the inn, paying the innkeeper, returning, getting the information?
14. The rival couple, insisting on visiting, the Grand Duchess, continually receiving letters from the artist? Deciding on the picnic, pretending the Princess was pregnant? Out in the open, the dinner, the toasts, suspicions?
15. Matthias, with the couple, the information, the encounter with Ehrengard, her controlling him? The final confrontation, the artist bewildered, Ehrengard claiming the baby was hers, the artist and his disbelief, his sketches in his pocket, the proof?
16. The buildup to the baptism, everybody happy?
17. Ehrengard, Kurt in the town, his visit, concealing the truth, the challenge to the artist, the duel, the artist or with the gun, literally shooting himself in the foot?
18. The happy ending, the artist going on his travels, his Casanova behaviour?
19. The Duchy saved?
20. Ehrengard and her love for Kurt?