Dove Review

“The Girl King” recounts some of the events of Sweden’s past, in the 1600s, and features the story of Queen Kristina. No doubt some dramatic license is taken in this film as certain events would have to be speculation, rather than based on historical facts. In the film, the queen is raised as a tomboy, and when she takes the throne, she has no interest in men or listening to her chancellor warn her about staying faithful to the teachings of Luther — instead, she takes a liking to her lady in waiting, Ebba (whom she nicknames “Belle”). She has an affair with her, gets to personally know the philosopher Descartes, and rebels against the religious leaders, eventually choosing to abdicate the throne and move to Rome where she leads as a Catholic. In fact, the ending of the film states she died at age 63 and is buried next to the popes.

The content in this film is very strong. It features sexual scenes between a man and woman and the queen and her female lover, nudity of both a woman and man, some scathing comments against the church, and some irreverent comments that no doubt would offend many viewers. We cannot award this film our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal.

Dove Rating Details

0

Faith

None

0

Integrity

Characters are grabbed and shoved; a corpse's forehead is sawed and the skull cracked, and a man pulls the pineal gland out of the brain and it is shown on screen, including the bloody cut on the forehead; a theology student tries to shoot the queen, but she is shoved out of the way by a man whose head is grazed with a bit of blood; man slaps woman; man is stabbed; man is poisoned with the Eucharist and dies.

4

Sex

A man and woman are having sex near a stairway, the man's backside covered with clothes and the woman wearing a skirt, but thrusting and heavy breathing going on; a woman kisses her female lover several times and a woman's bare breast is seen as they have sex and the other woman's nearly nude; innuendos; the comment about a man being "an incredible syphilitic"; a comment that "you should love, you can reason afterward"; comments about fornication.

5

Language

Irreverent comments like, "By the rusty nails of Christ's cross, this is delicious"; "By Chr*st's b*lls" (slang for male genitalia); "By G's A**"-1; a comment about those who have bought a piece of Christ's cross and a comment about his foreskin and his "member"; "Good Lord"; a comment about whores; "I curse you, I curse you, may you rot in H"; OMG-1; "In G's name"; H-1

3

Violence

Characters are grabbed and shoved; a corpse's forehead is sawed and the skull cracked, and a man pulls the pineal gland out of the brain and it is shown on screen, including the bloody cut on the forehead; a theology student tries to shoot the queen, but she is shoved out of the way by a man whose head is grazed with a bit of blood; man slaps woman; man is stabbed; man is poisoned with the Eucharist and dies.

2

Drugs

Several scenes of the drinking of wine, including a few toasts; the mention of beer for everyone.

3

Nudity

A young woman wears a gown and nipples are visible through it; woman's breast is visible; another woman's breasts are almost completely nude; strong cleavage; male rear nudity; shirtless men; a man and woman lie in bed and he is shirtless and her bare shoulders are visible; woman's breasts in painting; a statue of a man and his genitals are visible and woman's breasts are visible on a statue; image of Christ on the cross.

3

Other

A comment that "We got drunk on the blood of Catholics"; a couple of scenes of characters spitting; a woman has an abortion so she can remain working for the queen; a woman says, "I hate my mother"; comments like, "Death to the Catholics"; "Burn the Pope at the stake"; a man coughs up blood; disagreements over Protestantism and Catholicism; a comment about the occult sciences as a book called "the book of the Devil" is examined; and "Like Luther, I want to spend a night with the devil."