The Mad King: A weirdly quiet descent into ruin

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much patience you have for long, lingering shots of curtains blowing in the wind. If you want a punchy, fast-moving drama, you will probably hate this. But if you like watching Frank Moser slowly lose his marbles in a way that feels uncomfortably real? Grab a coffee and settle in. It’s a bit of a slog, but it has this weird, hypnotic quality to it.

The movie is definitely not for everyone. It doesn't care if you're bored. It doesn't care if you're confused. It just exists, vibrating in its own little world of bad decisions and dusty velvet. 👑

Small observations

There is this one scene—I think it’s about thirty minutes in—where the King just stares at a bowl of cold soup for a solid minute. No dialogue. No music. Just soup. It was so weirdly specific that I started wondering if the actor actually liked the soup or if he was just trying to remember his grocery list. It felt like a mistake, but I kind of loved it.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Mad King (1932) through its definitive frames.

The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like we’re sprinting through the downfall of a monarchy, and then—boom—we’re back to the soup. It’s not smooth, but real life isn’t smooth either, right?

Why it feels different

I couldn't help but compare the general vibe here to the more traditional stuff like The Marriage Circle. Where that film has a certain snappy rhythm, The Mad King is content to just sit in the mud. It reminds me a bit of the mood in David, where the silence does more work than the script ever could.

• The lighting in the throne room is suspiciously dim.
• The King’s beard seems to get messier every time he enters a scene.
• There’s a background extra in the third act who clearly forgot to look sad.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a particularly good film by professional standards. But there’s a pulse there. The Mad King is the kind of movie that feels like it was made in someone's basement, and I mean that as a compliment. It feels human, flaws and all. And frankly, I’m tired of everything being so perfect and clean anyway. Sometimes you just need to watch a guy lose his crown while the lights flicker out. 🕯️