Two sisters, once best friends, compete for the love and affection of one man. Power, money, sex politics and...err....religion....all come together in the movie based on the *historical fiction* book of the same name by Phillipa Gregory (I don't care what you say, Lydia, it still sounds like a romance to me!). Another retelling of how Henry VIII changed the face of England to get his fat hands on Anne Boleyn. Great historical saga or an opportunity for heaving bosoms in low cut dresses?
I won't go into the real historical events...the story presented to us are that the Boleyn family are a poor-ish relation branch associated with the Duke of Norfolk. Now that Queen Katherine (of Aragon) can no longer bear King Henry (Eric Bana) a male heir, the Duke schemes to pimp out a female relation as Henry's mistress, acquiring riches and power for his family. They settle upon the ambitious Anne (Natalie Portman) but it is her more unassuming sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) who catches the King's eye. Details, details, details, Anne ends up catching the King's eye but will stop at nothing to become queen, not even if it means hurting her sister!
As I said, I know this book is based on fiction so I won't go into the historical inaccuracies of which there are many. Even taking this into consideration, the word that kept rolling through my mind while I was watching this was *clumsy*. There was absolutely no subtlety in explaining or even showing how or why the players were trying to get what they wanted.I couldn't decide whether it was the script which has some pretty bad clunkers in it, or the acting that made me wonder how much longer the movie was going to go for when Anne returns to court from France. The characters were so one-dimensional (Mary is an innocent simpleton! Anne is a bitch! Henry is a horny-toad!) that maybe actors were so over the top to try and compensate?
Acting...I like Natalie Portman. She was excellent in Leon/The Professional and Closer, but as Anne Boleyn, she's a shocker. Again, this may be due to the script, but she was portrayed as a petulant child determined for revenge after having her initial ambitions thwarted. There's none of the intelligence and sexual allure that the real Anne used to get Henry's attention - apparently she did it by using a well-timed double entendre here and there. ScarJo as Mary? Meh there wasn't much for her to do except look tragic here and there. And Eric Bana seemed to be overwhelmed by his costumes.
Speaking of costuming, I'll admit that the movie looked nice. The editing was a bit clumsy but the colours were nice and bright. I also liked the attention to detail that gave Anne the pearl necklace with the initial B - something that can be seen in her official portrait.
If you're not fussed by stuff like script and whatever, you may like The Other Boleyn Girl. If you want something better about the same stuff, either go watch The Tudors (featuring the really hot Henry Cavill) or Anne of a Thousand Days because in my opinion, heaving bosoms won again here!
4/10
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