Mads Mikkelson is that rare kind of actor, able to convey a world of heartbreak in just a glance. To mark the release of Arctic, which is now playing in cinemas, critic Sarah Ward picks the acclaimed actor’s best film roles.
In just two months, 2019 has delivered two vastly different career achievements for Mads Mikkelson: one of his worst roles yet and one of the best. The former comes courtesy of the abysmal, dull and juvenile John Wick rip-off Polar, which sounds fantastic on paper but couldn’t be more excruciating to watch. As for the latter, it also has an icy moniker, with the Danish star jumping into the survivalist genre in Arctic.
Thankfully, Polar is an outlier on Mikkelson’s resume – and Arctic definitely isn’t. Since making his acting debut as a drug dealer in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher, Mikkelson has proven not just a reliable presence in everything from Danish dramas to Hollywood franchises to small-screen thrillers, but a thoroughly commanding presence as well. As proof, here’s a rundown of his best roles, including battling with Bond and navigating royal intrigue.
Pusher and Pusher II
Premiering in 1996, Pusher marked two significant film debuts: of director Nicolas Winding Refn, and of his early go-to star. Playing a Copenhagen drug dealer, it’s easy to see why Mikkelson’s career took off from here – and why the feature’s 2004 sequel Pusher II made him the main attraction. The gritty gangster series doesn’t shy away from any of the elements that would become Refn’s trademarks, with a distinctive sense of style, a penchant for violence and a fondness for sending his characters on a transformative journey. But without Mikkelson, neither of the trilogy’s first two films would’ve had such an impact; his absence in the third feature is keenly felt.
Open Hearts
Mikkelson went Dogme in Open Hearts, which pairs the film movement’s minimalistic stylistic approach with a thorny, involving narrative. Here, two couples find their lives forever changed by a car accident – the victim and his fiancée, and the driver responsible and her doctor husband. Mikkelson plays the latter, in a role that segues between extremes as much as the movie’s storyline. Indeed, while director Susanne Bier was rightly applauded for the film’s unflinching intimacy and authenticity, the same description also deserves to go Mikkelson’s way.
After the Wedding
An American version of After the Wedding opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival; however the Oscar-nominated original holds a significant place in Danish film history, and in Mikkelson’s career. Reteaming with Open Hearts’ filmmaker Susanne Bier, he’s drawn into another rich, intricate human drama, this time focusing on family revelations. When Mikkelson’s Jacob returns to Denmark from the Indian orphanage he’s desperately trying to keep afloat, he’s invited to a wedding and confronted with an unexpected blast from his past. Wading through the fallout, the star does what he does best: convey a world of heartbreak in just a glance.
Casino Royale
While it was King Arthur that first introduced Mikkelson to much of the English-speaking film world, it was Casino Royale that cemented his Hollywood status – and made him a Bond villain for the ages. Forget the gadgets and the girls; seeing 007 face off against his various nemeses always provides the long-running franchise with its biggest thrills, and that’s no different here. In his first outing as the MI6 officer, Daniel Craig is smooth, suave and resourceful. But so is Mikkelson as terrorist financier, maths genius, chess whiz and formidable poker player Le Chiffre.
Valhalla Rising
Almost any words could complete the phrase “Mads Mikkelson as…” and they’d garner excitement. That didn’t work out for Polar, but it does in Valhalla Rising – aka Mads Mikkelson as a mute Norse warrior in the year 1096AD. Reuniting with Nicolas Winding Refn for the second time outside of the Pusher series (after 1999’s Bleeder), Mikkelson proves a potent presence in this sparse, brooding, ruminative feature, which sees his character of ‘One-Eye’ escaping capture and trekking across the globe with a Norwegian boy in tow.
A Royal Affair
With A Royal Affair, Mikkelson might’ve been pipped by his co-star Mikkel Følsgaard for Berlinale’s best actor Silver Bear back in 2012, but he’s a source of compelling conflict in this historical drama. An 18th-century love triangle involving King Christian VII of Denmark, his British wife Caroline Matilda, and royal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee. Mikkelson brings moody charm and incites ample swooning as a man in a precarious situation – both caring for and crafting a romance behind the back of a mentally unwell ruler.
The Hunt
As a small-town teacher faces accusations of behaving inappropriately with one of his students, The Hunt builds a stunning and devastating portrait of the toll of persecution – particularly on Mikkelson’s ostracised educator, but also on the close-knit community that’s quick to shun a man it previously welcomed. There’s nothing simple or straightforward in Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-nominated film, the script co-written with A Hijacking’s Tobias Lindholm, or in Mikkelson’s restrained yet intense performance, which proved a worthy winner of the Cannes best actor award in 2012.
Arctic
From Alive to The Grey to The Mountain Between Us, frosty survival scenarios are rarely far from our screens – and while there’s much that’s familiar about Arctic, Mikkelson’s stoic performance stands out as much as the film’s eye-catching icy landscapes. Crucially, as his stranded Overgård weathers the reality of being stuck in the Arctic Circle with no signs of help, Mikkelson weathers the challenge with a performance that’s physically expressive while remaining deeply internalised. Here, the actor’s stance says as much as his sparing dialogue.
