If you are to believe this variation of the life of Sweden's Queen Christina (Liv Ullman), you have to see her as the most sexually frustrated ruler of all time, a princess raised as a boy then crowned as Queen. She has romantic feelings for a female childhood friend yet lusts after several of the young men in her court as well. This story is told through her life after her abdication from the throne where she goes to the Vatican to meet with the Pope and tells her life story to a Cardinal (Peter Finch) in an effort to be permitted to convert to Catholisism. The film is never told through a historical perspective, simply through her lack of a sex life. She caresses the face of the beautiful woman she loves and rides away on her horse in anger after seeing the woman kissing a man she's also in lust with. Her female friend allows to watch her make love to that man who makes a pass at her the next day after confronting her about spying on them the night before. As you watch this, you realize that's all there is to this story, even if beautifully filmed, nothing but an effort to give a glimpse into the thoughts of what Garbo was possibly thinking in the 1933 version of Queen Christina's life.
While Liv Ullman is certainly perfect for the role of Sweden's most famous ruler, she is not permitted to give an insight into anything other than her sexual frustration. There's nothing about what she did during her reign as Queen on a historical level, only a glimpse into the part of her life that should have remained secret. I really wanted to love this movie, but as I realized where the entire film was going, I realized why this was dismissed upon release and added to the legend of Ullman and Finch's other notorious teaming, the 1973 musical version of "Lost Horizon". I was truly embarrassed by Ullman's basically psychotic pass at Finch towards the end, the final straw for me in my opinion of the film as a whole.
While Liv Ullman is certainly perfect for the role of Sweden's most famous ruler, she is not permitted to give an insight into anything other than her sexual frustration. There's nothing about what she did during her reign as Queen on a historical level, only a glimpse into the part of her life that should have remained secret. I really wanted to love this movie, but as I realized where the entire film was going, I realized why this was dismissed upon release and added to the legend of Ullman and Finch's other notorious teaming, the 1973 musical version of "Lost Horizon". I was truly embarrassed by Ullman's basically psychotic pass at Finch towards the end, the final straw for me in my opinion of the film as a whole.