Bille August & Queen Margrethe II Bring Ehrengard To Life

Netflix has announced that Bille August will direct forthcoming Danish feature Ehrengard, adapted by Anders August from one of the last works of Karen Blixen (1885-1962) with its set design to feature the work of Queen Margrethe II, an honorary member of the Association of Danish Scenographers.

In the fairytale kingdom of Babenhausen, a young, self-appointed expert on love, Cazotte, is hired by the scheming Grand Duchess to help her secure an heir. While searching for a suitable future Princess, Cazotte teaches the timid and introverted Crown Prince the art of seduction and lovemaking.

But their plan soon backfires, when an heir is conceived out of wedlock and the royal family has to seek refuge in the castle of Rosenbad. Here, as rivals within the royal family close in on their scheme, Cazotte himself falls in love with Ehrengard, the maid of honour, and gradually learns that in fact, he’s no expert on love at all.

Bille August said: “The Queen has created the most fantastic decoupages for the occasion, and they will be the dominant feature of the film’s overall scenographic expression. Fantastic (in the most literal sense) is our starting point for the film; we wish to use humour and elegance to create a devil-may-care, burlesque, fabulous and autonomous visual universe.”

Queen Margrethe II added: “Karen Blixen’s stories have always fascinated me, with their aesthetic tales, their imagination and their, to me, image-creating worlds – and I’m very happy to be part of this project. You can feel that the author was a visual artist just like H.C. Andersen. But who is Ehrengard?”

“The intrigues weave themselves in and out of each other and Blixen spins her spin around the characters until we (and they) are completely nonplussed. How will the riddle be solved? I have tried to interpret Blixen’s fantastic universe in the creation of the découpages and costumes and I’m looking forward to seeing the tale of Ehrengard come to life in this film.”