Review of My Queen Karo

"My Queen, Karo," (2009). Belgium. Starring Anna Franziska, Debra Francois, and Matthias Schoenaerts. Directed by Dorothee Van Den Berghe. This movie was so wonderful. It is a buildungsroman, with the running leitmotif being structure. The theme is point of view and change. Karo is a pubescent girl whose father is a shiftless womanizer who believes in freedom. Freedom from government constraints, free love, polyamory, and just about everything that isn't tied down. Karo is undergoing puberty, the separation of her parents, separation from her childhood friends, the death of her pet hedgehog. She wants structure, family security, and is very anxious about the changes. She is especially distressed about her mother's reaction to the disintegration of her marriage, Karo tries to reconcile her need for structure by allowing a sister to baptise her into the Catholic Church. Her father believes that organized faith serves no real purpose. Yet he figures out why Karo needs faith to hold onto. He teaches her the only reality is the present and what's in her view of the world, her psyche. This is a Garden of Eden allusion. The serpent is Alice. Adam and Eve are Raven and Dahlia. When the children of the Garden fall from grace, Karo becomes the rescuer and the restorer of all things broken. Unfortunately, just as the Fall from Grace dooms the figures in the Garden of Eden forever, so too is the marriage of Raven and Dahlia doomed by betrayal and things that cannot be undone. However, Karo is transformed by her childhood trauma, and like any other child subject to the whims of adults who misbehave, Karo learns an imporant life lesson: survival. Brilliant acting, directing, writing. A film filled with charm. Enjoy! 5 of 5 stars.