Summary
The movie highlights perceptions of people on social media and how everyone thinks they know what the other person is going through.
This review of the Netflix film Royalteen does not contain spoilers.
High school students have to deal with so much and they are often hiding a piece of themselves. Whether they’re not themselves with their friends or have a secret past that they can’t reveal, it’s always difficult for them to go through those years. Take all of that teenage angst and add the life of royalty, it can be overwhelming for anyone to handle.
Netflix’s Royalteen follows prince Karl Johan (Mathias Storhøi) and newcomer Lena (Ines Høysæter Asserson), who have feelings for each other but are aware that their relationship might put them in an impossible situation, while he has to carry a nation on his shoulders, she carries lies on hers. Who wouldn’t want to have a prince fall in love with them? In this case, Lena just falls into step with Kalle and they start such a wonderful relationship. Lena has some skeletons in her closet and is a completely different person than she used to be. It was interesting to see the flashbacks with her because they didn’t give that much away until the very end.
The love story between Kalle and Lena was very natural in effortless. Lena is shy and reserved because she doesn’t want to become too involved with new people, especially girls because of her past. She used to be a hardcore party girl which ended up getting her into some trouble. She often stays home, secluded from her younger brother Theodore.
Once Kalle finds out where Lena lives, he goes to visit her quite a lot and likes that she is on her own the majority of the time. The movie highlights perceptions of people on social media and how everyone thinks they know what the other person is going through. It’s an interesting way to have it secluded through a high school and royal siblings to explore the dangers of social media. It’s all about who they find trustworthy and who is willing to speak the truth.
Lena has been through a lot and she often expresses how she feels to the girls in school, including Kalle’s uptight sister. She doesn’t appreciate how condescending she is to everyone because, in the end, they are all normal people.
The most interesting takeaway from Royalteen is that Kalle has a different side to him that Lena wasn’t prepared for. She had been raising her brother for the longest time that she forgot what it was like to be outside of the house and live a normal life. She didn’t realize that a prince would want to take things slow and not be intimate with her.
It was confusing for her because of the persona that was placed on social media. After a huge argument with an old friend of hers Lena deleted all of her social media because she ended up stealing her friend’s boyfriend away. And everyone found out. So for Lena to find out that Kalle isn’t who he said he was takes her back a bit.
She was happy to be around him and his family. She couldn’t believe that a prince would allow her to be present in his household because of her demons. She has been very insecure and it shows throughout the movie. She always feels like the odd one out and Kalle changes that.
Royalteen is an interesting story about a young girl who has made some difficult decisions in her life and how this one prince sweeps her away. She can overcome her past and deal with her demons because she cares about him so much. She doesn’t care about what anyone thinks of him because she has gone through her version of it.
It’s a slow movie that has something to say about social media, but it essentially gets lost in the love story between Kalle and Lena. There are key moments that shape their story and that alter their journey, but ultimately it’s the outside noise that ends up getting to both of them. Lena has two different sides of her that slowly begins to come out when she gets closer to Kalle and his sister ends up finding out exactly what those skeletons are.
The third act is probably the most intriguing aspect because everything comes to the forefront and makes for an interesting ending to their love story.
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