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Movies & TV TIFF 2019

TIFF review: The Barefoot Emperor

THE BAREFOOT EMPEROR CWC D: Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth. Belgium/Netherlands/Croatia/Bulgaria. 99 min. Sep 6, 5:45 pm, Scotiabank 4 Sep 8, 9:45 am, AGO Sep 14, 9 am, Scotiabank 13. Rating: NN


Brosens and Woodworth’s sequel to their 2016 mockumentary, King Of The Belgians, finds the well-intentioned monarch Nicolas III (Peter Van den Begin) recuperating from wounds sustained in that film at an isolated Croatian sanatorium run by the solicitous Dr. Kroll (Udo Kier). Which would be fine, except that the European Union is on the brink of collapse and Nicolas and his entourage (Lucie Debay, Bruno Georis, Titus De Voogdt) would like to help.

Instead, they’re drawn into the sanatorium’s local politics, and the film bogs down in a clunky allegory for the current situation in Europe, with Nicolas trying to thwart a rising nationalist movement in the sanatorium while various other residents (including a serene Geraldine Chaplin) offer their own distractions.

The satire is toothless, the comedy is flat and the earlier film’s mockumentary concept is sorely missed.

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