Royal Rebels: An Unlikely Love Story Review
Director: Rebecca Chaiklin
Date Created: 2025-09-16 22:26
1.5
Royal Rebels: An Unlikely Love Story Review: It is a Netflix film directed by Rebecca Chaiklin, the brainchild of Tiger King, and featuring Norwegian Princess Märtha Louise and her now-husband, Shaman Durek Verrett. The documentary professes to provide us with an insight into their strange love affair that shook Norway, as well as the international community. Sounds like it’s already the perfect fairytale documentary in the making: a princess defying convention, a new-age spiritual healer accused of being wrong, and a media storm that refused to die down. But as I watched this programme, I just couldn’t manage to feel anything other than perplexed.
Rather than an even-handed examination of the relationship between Durek and Märtha Louise, the film is sometimes an over-produced PR film. Though I wanted to be swept up by their story, I was left at arm’s length and irritated.
Royal Rebels: An Unlikely Love Story Review
Netflix’s Royal Rebels: An Unlikely Love Story shows Märtha Louise as a woman who has never been one to do what is expected. She’s not a typical princess waiting for approval, so her choice of being with Durek makes sense in that context. Instead of analysing that depth, however, the documentary quickly moves into their own interpretation of events with declarations of soul meeting upon soul connections and spiritual unions and even declarations of past lives.
While I wouldn’t necessarily wish every documentary to be hard journalism, but at least wish it to be non-partisan. That is certainly not the situation here: The most screen time by far is dedicated to Märtha Louise and Durek themselves, so the narrative is one-note and one-dimensional. Their narration supplants genuine insight into why their relationship was so scandalous in Norway.
Royal Rebels: An Unlikely Love Story documentary is the greatest disappointment in that it brings up fascinating topics and never follows through on them. Topics such as cultural backlash, race relations, press harassment, and even the pain of Märtha Louise’s previous marriage are brought up and then abandoned in favour of fluff by the couple.
Therefore, although we’re led to believe that Durek felt bullied in Norway, both due to and despite his identity and due to his atypical vocation, the show simply has Durek alone stand up for himself on camera without being questioned. The result was that the director was apparently too scared to question him, and it takes away from the credibility of the entire series.
Another disappointment is the lack of external commentary. Beyond some sensationalist soundbites from reporters and “royal experts,” the doc has hardly any commentary from regular Norwegians or even members of the couple themselves. This limited lens consigns the show to the domain of a constructed romance movie feature and not a very worth-it-Netflix-price documentary.
Aesthetically, the Royal Rebels An Unlikely Love Story film tries to be trendy. There is melodramatic cutting away and schmaltzy music, and a lot of shots of the couple posing before cameras or planning their grand wedding. But deep down, though, there is not much in terms of storytelling.
I also didn’t catch the tone. The program is sometimes too sappy and over-the-top in how it deals with Princess Märtha having issues with the press or her family fighting the embracing of Durek. Then it falls into cringe humour, such as presenting Durek’s quirky personality, dress code, and over-the-top pronouncements. This tonal flipping made it difficult to seriously become engaged with the program.
As a viewer, I expected the Netflix Royal Rebels: An Unlikely Love Story to treat me to what being a contemporary princess feels like and to remain loyal to one’s heart despite trials. It was shallow and repetitive instead. The movie never critically questions its subject and therefore falls into the category of promotional film as opposed to narration.
I also had issues with the amount of time spent on statements that sound improbable or at least doubtful. When individuals step forward with extraordinary claims regarding spiritual healing or otherworldly connection, a documentary series owes it to itself to question or contextualise these. In such cases, they are only put forward on face value, and that left me rolling my eyes in disgust more than empathising.
In the first place, it is possible to be fair and say that there are occasions when it sparkles. The personal pain of Märtha Louise, particularly in her recollections of how it was living the royal life and personal happiness, is true. The sections on loss and mourning, and especially the shadow of her previous marriage, bring a note of profundity. Once more, though, these moments pass and go too rapidly to gain traction over the flashier, louder aspects of the documentary.
Royal Rebels An Unlikely Love Story Review: Summing Up
Royal Rebels: An Unlikely Love Story might have been a fascinating exploration of love, identity, and tradition colliding in the digital age. What it is, instead, is a lost chance. The narration is unbalanced, the obsession with self-marketing is thinning, and the movie is too suspicious of audience members to tackle the harder questions.
Also Read: Maledictions Review: Short but Uneven Political Thriller That Struggles With Storytelling
As a Norwegian, my experience is that the Norwegian general public did NOT meet Verrett with racism, but with shock, anger and disbelief due to his absurd and hilarious statements. That he happens to be black is irrelevant. If he pins this on skin color, he sounds like a racist to me.
Another thing: our beloved King is the most generous, liberal and inclusive person on earth, a king for every one of us, Verrett included. He deserves more respect than this. He once made a famous speech, speaking out for Norwegians of any colour and sexual orientation.
If Verrett wants acceptance, I suggest both he and Märtha can start by following up the deal they have made with the king: live their own life, but NOT commercialise their royal connection. They put the very existence of our monarchy at risk.
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