The Other Boleyn Girl
Phillippa Gregory’s book, on which this film is based, is truly excellent. I purposefully did not refresh my memory on the details so that I could let the film unfold on its own merits. Not doing so is a mistake I have suffered for in the past. The plot of the novel draws upon the true-life complex machinations of the Howard family in 16th Century England, seeking political power and influence with King Henry VIII. In this era, marriage is not the sacred institution it claims to be in today’s newspapers, but merely avenues of influence and mergers, property and breeding. Capitalism did that much for women’s rights, at least.
The Boleyn sisters are part of the greater Howard clan, beautiful virgins to be auctioned and traded, dangled and manipulated, all to secure a title or a property. The screenplay makes neat work of the social and familial geography, which alone is a feat worth witnessing. Scarlett Johansson is Mary, sweet and earnest and compliant. Natalie Portman is Anne – brazen and willful and far more skilled at political maneuvering and interpersonal manipulation. They, with their brother George (Jim Sturgess), are moved about like pawns by their awful father and horrid uncle (Mark Rylance and David Morrisey, respectively in wickedly splendid performances). Eric Bana plays our mercurial and obsessive Tudor king, you know, the one whose foolishness, pride, and susceptibility to malevolent influence changed the face of England forever?
The performances are uniformly great; even with such recognizable actors, the characters and milieu take over and claim your attention. It’s fun to see Portman as a “bad girl,” giving us a taste of her playful side she tends only to expose in SNL sketches. Johansson dials down her femme fatale allure to be the sweet, wronged Mary Boleyn in this impossible era.
You may recognize the actors playing William Carey and Jane Seymour (Benedict Cumberbatch and Juno Temple) from Atonement. Queen Katherine of Aragon (Ana Torrent) is fierce and, well, classy, despite the humiliation she receives at the hands of her king. While the story stays close to the familial strife (glossing over such trivialities as England’s break with Rome), it does not fail to paint a lush and textured picture of the era with all its conventions and technology and the Tudor influence. I enjoyed it immensely, and it made me want to reread all of Gregory’s books. The history may have been narratively scrunched, but it’s all the true lives of some powerful and unfortunate people. Their greed and compliance, health and cleverness, while focused in the moment in a small circle of suffering, wrought immense changes in the Western world, and such a tale will always be fascinating.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 2/29/08
Time in minutes 115
Director Justin Chadwick
Studio Columbia Pictures
