瑞典女王

A posteriori, it is plumb conceivable why Garbo proactively facilitated a biopic of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626- 1689) at the peak of her games, not just because of her parentage, our Swedish goddess must have been profoundly attracted by the similarity between them in a more personal way, the uncanny life paths both chose, Queen Christina abdicated her throne and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1654, whereas Garbo, bowed out from the screen once and for all in 1941 at the age of 35, both unmarried and childless, no to mention their alleged queer proclivity.

Raised as a boy as an heir of the throne, Christina becomes the Queen at the age of mere 6 when her father lays down his life in the Thirty Years’ War, her pacific attitude takes shape during the drawn-out warfare, and an adult Christina yearns for some sort of freedom unshackled by her monarchical duties and patriotic notions. During a secret outing under the disguise of a young man, Christina bumps into a Spanish envoy Antonio (Gilbert), who is on his way to meet the Queen in the capital, and after a jocose gender-revealing episode apropos of sharing a bed in a snowbound inn, they are smitten with each other, but Christina withholds her real identity, only to Antonio’s chagrin when they meet again formally, he is tasked with a marriage proposal from the King of Spain, but Christina reassures him that she only loves him and declines the proposal.

Impelled by her excitable and xenophobic subjects, who are whipped up by the envious Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie (Keith) and demand a pure-blood heir from their queen and Antonio should be expelled from Sweden immediately, Christina has a cardinal decision to make, a choice between her birthright responsibilities and her own free will. but what awaits her is a so-near-and-yet-so-far scenario due to a sorry quirk of fate and bad swordsmanship.

Here, under the ever-spectacular guidance of Rouben Mamoulian, Garbo makes the most of her epicene carriage to redefine what femininity entails: sharing a pre-Code mouth-on-mouth kiss with Christina’s favorite countess Ebba Sparre (Young), washing her face with a fistful of snow to embrace a new day, toying with fresh grapes and intoxicatingly memorizing everything in the room she has been sharing with Antonio; and when her duty calls, she is a gallant sovereign who can placate her people with words only, and in the climatic abdication scene, she augustly twins steely resolution with a thin but delectable air of reluctance.

John Gilbert, a silent-era matinee idol in his penultimate picture, who failed to sail through the transition to the sound cinema, and would die prematurely at the age of 38 three years later when his health is devastated by chronic alcoholism. In his fourth collaboration with Garbo, to whom he also stroke a romantic relationship before, Gilbert remains game and spry, but has no will to countervail Garbo’s towering pizzazz and charm. Only Lewis Stone, as the loyal statesman Axel Oxenstierna, manages to eke out a sustaining presence of great gravitas and gutted despondency on the side lines.

Mamoulian’s direction is meticulous but never unwieldy, his frictionless camera movement effectually counterbalances the film’s lofty setting, and the masterful soft focus on Garbo’s immaculate visage alone can leave QUEEN CHRISTINA enshrined as the ne plus ultra in her filmography, not to mention it is also such an emotional paean about pursuing what one’s heart desires, a freedom that few are lucky enough to own, shored up by its star’s unbowed strength and volition.

referential entries: Ernst Lubitsch’s NINOTCHKA (1939, 7.3/10); Mamoulian’s DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931, 8.0/10)

影片中，女王抛弃了王位与国家，奔赴港口去见早以越好的爱人，最后却只有在决斗中死去的爱人遗体。

我没有处在那个时代，也完全不能理解骑士精神和决斗文化。在我的眼里，决斗真的是一种野蛮且毫无意义的存在，打着维护名誉、尊严与爱情等的旗号，用非常粗鲁的、枉顾是非的、命偿的方法来解决掉对方。每一场因为鸡毛蒜皮或莫名其妙的自尊心而挑起的决斗，其结局就很可能是至少死掉一个人。8000场决斗里，至少死4000个人，而这种喝个酒擦个车都能引起的决斗，真的让人无语。 在影片中，女主放弃了她的国家她的子民，不顾一切地向往着他们的未来，而男主不顾与女主约定好的未来、不理性分析自己与他人决斗的胜利可能性，贸然因为一口气而付出了自己的生命，这算什么？男主真的认识到爱情与责任了吗？结局的悲剧就像一阵风，不知从何而来，吹一下就再也抓不住了。 而男二四处煽动谣言，对国家及女王的安危造成伤害，却完全没有定罪，这又算什么？

嘉宝一如既往的美。她饰演了一个勇敢大气的、爱国爱民的女王Christina，她继承王位于父亲战死后。她热爱和平和科学艺术，她也爱早早起床争取这一点点空余来读书，她有着自由思想，不甘被束缚，她不愿意随意联婚，她也无法想象爱情甚至不相信爱情，但最后，在一家小酒馆里，被查尔斯丰富的见识独特的谈吐吸引，引来了压抑后的爱情释放。 嘉宝演绎的是一个大气的有独特见识的、政治能力很强的带着男性气概女王，与赫本在《罗马假日》里天真烂漫渴望外面世界的公主不一样。Christina渴望的是对掌控自己人生的自由。但最后，罗马公主选择了她的责任与子民，而瑞典女王奔赴了爱情。

她们的选择是无法比较高下的，但两者同为悲剧结局时，罗马公主是为了责任与大爱而使爱情悲剧，瑞典女王却是因为男主死于决斗产生爱情悲剧.......这真的使整个影片在主题上有很大的差距了。

嘉宝全面展现了她与生俱来的超凡脱俗的气质。她的脸上总是带着一副迷人又让人猜不透的神态，不管是男装的还是女装的克里斯蒂娜，俊美的面容上总是透着一股英气，这给她本来已经很美的面孔又蒙上一层神秘的面纱，增加了几分若实若虚、若即若离的幻觉，让人觉得她既在现实中又在想象里。

嘉宝最杰出的作品，同样这部影片不在剧情而在嘉宝，而也部分在于爱情。嘉宝的眼神庄严，举止大气，而内心戏细腻，嘉宝坚强而时而无奈，更像是在演自己。饰演男主角的约翰·吉尔伯特虽不完美但可圈可点，但因嘉宝总能自然地接过戏份填补了这一不足。影片中段嘉宝在房间里的漫步和感情活动看似有感而发，但其实是导演鲁宾·马莫利安的精心布置，与男主角的互动也温婉而不缺少火花。嘉宝专用造型师艾德里安为本片创造的服饰也十分优秀。结尾处女主角肝肠寸断但依旧隐忍的神情让人心碎，步上船头凝视远方的眼神里带有悲伤但更多的是希望。