Review The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl Best Review

"The Other Boleyn Girl" is an exciting period costume drama, very loosely based on King Henry VIII's relationship with the Boleyn sisters Anne and Mary, members of an ambitious family associated with the Royal Court, and derivative of Philippa Gregory's novel of the same name.

In 16th Century England, power politics are a family blood sport, in which the goal is to get close to the King, and stay close by any means necessary. When the dashing and handsome Henry VIII (Eric Bana) pays an official visit to the Boleyns, the family schemes to draw his attention to pretty, ambitious and eligible elder daughter Anne (Natalie Portman in full vixen mode). Through an unfortunate accident, the King instead becomes interested in plainer but honest younger daughter Mary (a superbly sympathetic Scarlett Johansson). When the two daughters are invited to court, they end up in competition to replace Henry's aging, barren queen. It is a high stakes game that the brazen Anne will do anything to win, in which the fate of the entire Boleyn family is very much at hazard.

The story falls short of historical accuracy, but many viewers are likely to be caught up in a fascinating historical melodrama, filled with a solid cast in colorful costumes, lush sets and lots of authentic location shooting. Ultimately, the movie turns on the complex relationship between the two sisters, who become bitter rivals but somehow never quite stop being sisters. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson as Anne and Mary are fun to watch, and the story generates plenty of suspense before its dramatic ending. "The Other Boleyn Girl" is highly recommended as good entertainment. The DVD includes some nice extras.

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The Other Boleyn Girl Overview

Based on the best-selling novel, The Other Boleyn Girl is a captivating tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Eric Bana. Two sisters, Anne (Portman) and Mary (Johansson), are driven by their ambitious family to seduce the king of England (Bana) in order to advance their position in court. What starts as an opportunity for the girls to increase their family fortune becomes a deadly rivalry to capture the heart of a king to stay alive.

The Other Boleyn Girl Specifications

A tale of two sisters competing for the same king, The Other Boleyn Girl uses historical facts as window dressing for this work of fiction that is entertaining, if not wholly believable. Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) is the doe-eyed vixen ordered by her power-hungry uncle to bewitch King Henry VIII (Eric Bana). Her shy sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) has always been in Anne's shadow; Anne is prettier, more accomplished, and desired by many men. So when the King picks Mary--the "other Boleyn girl"--as his mistress, Anne turns on her sister and schemes to become not only the King's consort, but his new queen. With a pair of American actresses in the lead roles and an Aussie portraying their hunky object of desire, the English accents are all over the place in this period piece with a modern feel. Though the Boleyn girls' mother points out that her "daughters are being traded like cattle for the advancement of men," it is Anne who ultimately throws her slight weight around to bully Henry into doing her bidding. When he begs her to give herself to him, Anne--wearing a Carrie Bradshaw-esque "B" pendant on her neck--counters, "Make me your Queen." Is the audience really supposed to believe that Henry the VIII--the most powerful man in the land--would divorce Catherine of Aragon, separate from the Catholic church, and put England in upheaval simply because Anne refused to sleep with him until he jumped through all her hoops? "I have torn this country apart for you," he hisses at her before finally getting his way. Based on Philippa Gregory's bestselling novel of the same name, The Other Boleyn Girl features an attractive cast and a familiar plot with some icky twists. Kieran McGuigan's cinematography is breathtaking and is as crucial to setting the film's tone as the dialogue. Actually, it fares better: Lines such as "Well? Did he have you?!" sound almost comical. But the sweeping shots of Henry's kingdom and the carefully framed close-ups of Portman and Johansson are breathtaking in their beauty and say what words simply cannot. --Jae-Ha Kim

Get to Know the Cast of The Other Boleyn Girl
(click on images to see more films from each actor)

Natalie Portman (Anne Boleyn)

Scarlett Johansson (Mary Boleyn)

Eric Bana (Henry Tudor)	Jim Sturgess (George Boleyn)	Kristin Scott Thomas (Lady Elizabeth Boleyn)

Beyond The Other Boleyn Girl

Paperback Book

On Blu-ray

The Soundtrack

Stills from The Other Boleyn Girl (click for larger image)

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Customer Reviews

Meh - Ladyethyme - Seattle, WA USA
Ok, Scarlett and Natalie were excellent and beautiful, obviously. The gowns were lustrous and winning. Everything else was horrid, honestly. Henry was flat and uninteresting, and the plot...oh my god. It was not only completely historically inaccurate, but this is a case where history is by far more interesting and sexy than the movie! How is that possible? Ask Hollywood....



About that rape... - Sorcia MacNasty - North Carolina
Fun fact! The screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who adapted this film also wrote the 2003 Henry VIII series starring Ray Winstone Henry VIII and guess what?! The Anne Boleyn Rape Scene is IDENTICAL. Well, except that it's big ol' scary Ray Winstone raping the hell out of Helena Bonham Carter.

What the hell, Peter Morgan? Why you hatin' on Anne Boleyn enough that you keep having her get raped by Henry VIII? She lost her head, historically, do you really feel the need to re-write history and have her molested in the bargain? Pump the breaks, maniac.






Entertaining, unless you have studied Tudor history - D.B. -
I've been a student of Tudor history, and especially the tragedy of Anne Boleyn, whose story has always fascinated me, for about forty years. I saw the movie after reading Ms. Gregory's book, itself a wildly speculative work of loosely based historical fiction - emphasis on fiction. The movie is even worse, from an historical accuracy perspective. Mary Boleyn was anything but the shrinking violet and dutiful little daughter she is portrayed to be; what little can be found of her in historical accounts indicates that she was sent home in disgrace from the French court for promiscuity. She was married to Will Carey right after her fling with Henry, and if the child she bore was in fact the King's, he did not acknowledge it so. Anne spent several years at the French court, not just a couple of months, and not because she was sent there as punishment; when she joined the English court, she introduced many French trends, a sharp contrast to Queen Katharine's Spanish ways. Nor was she as young as Natalie Portman plays her; she was at least thirty when Elizabeth was born, and somewhere around 36 when she died. Henry, as portrayed by Eric Bana, was anything but the still young, still slim, still handsome sex symbol he is shown to be, and he was red-haired, to boot. George Boleyn was anything but the scared little boy he is made out to be; although compelled to marry Jane Parker, he was actually the life of the court, quite a womanizer and gambler, and the center of a group of courtiers who were the King's, and Anne's, friends and constant companions. Rather than being the only man sent to the block for adultery with Anne, George was only one of five men accused and executed. Jane Parker recanted her testimony regarding the siblings' incest, which sent her husband to his death, at her own execution in 1542. The sisters did not take turns competing for Henry, nor did they take turns playing serving maid to each other while the other slept with the King. Mary was, in fact, banished from court, never to return, when she secretly married William Stafford. There is no record of her attempting to intercede with the King on Anne's behalf, and she certainly did not carry Elizabeth away with her to raise; Elizabeth at the time of her mother's death was established in her own household, with servants, nurses, and governesses, and at some remove from court, an arrangement that did not change for several years. Norfolk, while the malignant mover and shaker behind pimping out the Boleyn and Howard girls, was not the person who destroyed Anne's relationship with Henry Percy; that was done by Cardinal Wolsey, at the King's instigation.

I could go on, but before taking this film seriously, read The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir, a meticulously researched documentary written by a recognized contemporary historian.

On the positive side, the costumes are spectacular.

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