When Argentinian Máxima Zorreguieta met the Dutch Crown Prince, love followed – but soon, so did the media spotlight, bringing with it difficult questions about her father’s political career in Argentina.
Six-part drama series Maxima, based on the best-selling by Marcia Luyten, has been . The series re-tells the story of the Maxima’s journey from Argentina to her engagement to Prince Willem-Alexander, and the challenges she faced along the way. She’s a strong, independent woman who loves her family – but can she reconcile that with the life she hopes to build in Holland?
Máxima (Delfina Chaves) and Prince Willem-Alexander (Martijn Lakemeier). Credit: Millstreet Films / Martijn van Gelder
Director Saskia Diesing may not have married a royal prince, but her experience moving from Germany to Holland as a child gave her an insight into some of the difficulties Máxima (played in the series by Delfina Chaves) may have faced.
“I was eight years old when I emigrated headlong to Holland and started at elementary school. After I had learned the language and lost my German accent, I thought I belonged. Until we received our first history lesson about World War II. I will never forget the moment when, in front of all my classmates, it became painfully clear to me that my father’s country, my native land, was responsible for the most horrific event in modern history. The biggest betrayal to me was that really no one had told me anything about the war. I was truly devastated. Suddenly everyone I loved and everything I was sure of, was up for discussion,” says Diesing, whose recent work also includes the moving World War II drama Lost Transport, on which she was both writer and director.
“An identity crisis at a young age also has its advantages. It is precisely this period in my life that gave me something very valuable: this temporary uprooting eventually forces you to reflect on yourself, your fellow man and life itself with compassion. And that latter I think is what also characterises me as a director, that I like to take the audience along on a journey, where human relationships may be put on edge, but where we continue to look at the characters with a mild outlook at all times. Characters for whom you sincerely wish for the best, despite – or perhaps precisely because of – all their shortcomings, fears, thoughtless actions or even amoral slips.”
The series shows Máxima (Delfina Chaves) dealing with the highs and lows. Credit: Millstreet Films / Martijn van Gelder
“We want to create an emotional, sincere and intimate portrait of Máxima in this series. Accessible and imitable for a wide audience, while at the same time not pushing the less beautiful events in her family history under the carpet, but bringing them to light.”
The series starts in 1999, when Máxima first appeared in public with Crown Prince Willem Alexander (Martijn Lakemeier, star of Winter in Wartime, the Dutch Oscar submission in 2010), then, along with flashbacks to her life growing up, captures key moments as their relationship unfolds, and she begins to questions what she knows about her family’s past: the first meeting with his parents, the reigning royal couple; the pursuit by the press and the media’s questions about what role her rather played in a military junta in Argentina; and adjusting to life in Europe.
The cast also includes award-winning Dutch actress Elsie de Brauw (The Death of My Mother, Sea of Time) as Queen Beatrix, German star Sebastian Koch (The Lives of Others, Homeland) as Claus von Amsberg, Willem-Alexander's father, and Argentinian actor Daniel Freire as Máxima's father, Jorge Zorreguieta.
Martijn Lakemeier as Prince Willem-Alexander and Sebastian Koch as his father, Claus. Credit: Millstreet Films / Martijn_van_Gelder
The series is a dramatisation, not a documentary, and making a show about a real – and still very much living – person brings its own challenges and responsibilities, as producer Rachel van Bommel nots.
“When writing a series based on true events, you have to constantly ask yourself where you stand in truth and accuracy. With this series we tell the story of the emotional journey from Máxima‘s old life to her new life and the drama that went along with it. For this we used the extensive and thorough research Marcia Luyten did for her book as well as subsequent research we did ourselves,” Bommel says.
“The story is based on true events and facts, but at the end of the day, we’re making fiction, so scenes are written to the best of our conscience. We will always see the story unfold through the eyes of Máxima. That is what will engage the audience. We are not used to seeing royal figures as real people, whereas that is precisely what we try to achieve in our narrative. In this way we hope to show not only what’s on the surface, as is sometimes the case with royal drama, but rather to feel and discover what actually lies beneath.”
At the heart of the series is Delfina Chaves, who had to bring both strength and vulnerability to the role.
Royal life: Willem-Alexander (Martijn Lakemeier) and (Máxima (Delfina Chaves). Credit: Millstreet Films / Tom Arkenbout
“The search for the actress that will play Máxima was tough,” Diesing says. “It is a complex role: we are looking for someone who not only has the looks of Máxima but also knows how to accurately portray intelligence, bravado and uncertainty. Someone who can quickly change facial expressions and who can make her struggle palpable, but behind whom a cheerful and warm human being continues to shine through.
“Máxima in real life, is someone you keep looking at, as soon as she enters the room people look at her. We were looking for someone who has exactly that what makes you want to keep looking. In Delfina Chaves, I’m happy to say, we managed to find all of this.”
This article includes edited extracts from material supplied by Millstreets Films / Beta Film.
Maxima is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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Maxima
