The Other Boleyn Girl (B- or 3/4 stars)
Costumes swish in 'The Other Boleyn Girl', a historical drama directed by newcomer, Justin Chadwick. Anne & Mary (Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johannson), are driven by their ambitious father & uncle to advance the Boleyn family's status by courting England's Henry the VIII (Eric Bana). Distressed that Catherine of Aragon can't give birth to a male heir, the King turns his unfaithful eye to the Boleyn girls. This is a sumptuous tale of castle intrigue. It starts off slowly, but speeds up & settles in as an unabashed melodrama. The story/dialogue is merely 'okay'. But Portman, Johansson, and the gorgeous look of the film bumps it up to a tepid 3-star rating. Unlike Marie Antoinette & Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the production values 'add' to the story, they don't garishly distract 'from' it.
Mary is content to live in the countryside, but both Boleyn sisters find themselves thrust into the thrilling world of court life. Their mother, Lady Elizabeth (Kristin Scott Thomas) isn't happy about the current cattle-calling status of young women (at the King's behest); she foresees that 1 or both of her lovely daughters' lives will be ruined. The elder, unmarried sister, Anne, is first called to be Henry's mistress. But after the King is injured (indirectly by Anne), Mary is called to heal him. His affections transfer to her and the tempestuous Anne becomes enraged with jealousy.
Mary is able to bear Henry an illegitimate son, but the conniving Anne lures him into her web once again. Henry could never stick with one woman. So, while Mary had genuine affection for him, Anne had relentless 'ambition' for power & prestige. And according to Anne's mother, in that day & age, 'ambition' was NOT a woman's virtue ... only one's liability. By acting hastily with the men in her life, Anne contemplates incest, and by doing so, tears apart her family, and has a hand in ending England's Catholic reign. We all know her fate by now. Portman is stellar as the dynamic-but-vulnerable Anne, when she hits, she hits hard.
According to the popular novel, the Boleyn girls ultimately find strength & loyalty in one another (even after Anne all but destroys Mary). I find this hard to believe, and in fact, Mary doesn't reconnect with her sister before the actual beheading. But for the purposes of this film, Mary is portrayed as warm-hearted & forgiving, and Anne is portrayed as less-than-savory. The early, leisurely half of the film has been heralded as the superior segment; but I disagree. Yes, it builds the tragic arc of Mary's story (Johannson is excellent throughout); but I was slightly bored. Once the focus switches to the unsympathetic Anne, Henry's breakdowns, the fall of the Church of England, & a devious proclamation by Jane Parker (Atonement's Juno Temple), the movie is in 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' mode.
'The Other Boleyn Girl' is more preoccupied with domestic drama, rather than political uprisings ... fine. But the film has received criticism for its historical inaccuracies; to which I say, how can anyone know for sure what actually happened over 450 yrs. ago? This is a story. Either you like it or you don't. Other criticisms came in the casting, i.e.: "They only casted Portman, Johannson & Bana because they're young, physically attractive stars"; to which I say ... do you want to look at ugly people for 115 minutes? For an earnest depiction of this story, rent the 1970 mini-series, The 6 Wives of Henry VIII (it's quite good). For soapy melodrama, watch this version; both have their strengths & weaknesses.
Mary is content to live in the countryside, but both Boleyn sisters find themselves thrust into the thrilling world of court life. Their mother, Lady Elizabeth (Kristin Scott Thomas) isn't happy about the current cattle-calling status of young women (at the King's behest); she foresees that 1 or both of her lovely daughters' lives will be ruined. The elder, unmarried sister, Anne, is first called to be Henry's mistress. But after the King is injured (indirectly by Anne), Mary is called to heal him. His affections transfer to her and the tempestuous Anne becomes enraged with jealousy.
Mary is able to bear Henry an illegitimate son, but the conniving Anne lures him into her web once again. Henry could never stick with one woman. So, while Mary had genuine affection for him, Anne had relentless 'ambition' for power & prestige. And according to Anne's mother, in that day & age, 'ambition' was NOT a woman's virtue ... only one's liability. By acting hastily with the men in her life, Anne contemplates incest, and by doing so, tears apart her family, and has a hand in ending England's Catholic reign. We all know her fate by now. Portman is stellar as the dynamic-but-vulnerable Anne, when she hits, she hits hard.
According to the popular novel, the Boleyn girls ultimately find strength & loyalty in one another (even after Anne all but destroys Mary). I find this hard to believe, and in fact, Mary doesn't reconnect with her sister before the actual beheading. But for the purposes of this film, Mary is portrayed as warm-hearted & forgiving, and Anne is portrayed as less-than-savory. The early, leisurely half of the film has been heralded as the superior segment; but I disagree. Yes, it builds the tragic arc of Mary's story (Johannson is excellent throughout); but I was slightly bored. Once the focus switches to the unsympathetic Anne, Henry's breakdowns, the fall of the Church of England, & a devious proclamation by Jane Parker (Atonement's Juno Temple), the movie is in 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' mode.
'The Other Boleyn Girl' is more preoccupied with domestic drama, rather than political uprisings ... fine. But the film has received criticism for its historical inaccuracies; to which I say, how can anyone know for sure what actually happened over 450 yrs. ago? This is a story. Either you like it or you don't. Other criticisms came in the casting, i.e.: "They only casted Portman, Johannson & Bana because they're young, physically attractive stars"; to which I say ... do you want to look at ugly people for 115 minutes? For an earnest depiction of this story, rent the 1970 mini-series, The 6 Wives of Henry VIII (it's quite good). For soapy melodrama, watch this version; both have their strengths & weaknesses.