The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl is yet another retelling of that oft told story of the rise and fall of Ann Boleyn, Henry the VIII's second wife and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. It is told from the point of view of Ann's sister, Mary, played with delicate gentleness by Scarlett Johansson.

The Other Boleyn Girl reveals the little known fact that Mary preceded her sister Ann to the bed of King Henry VIII, played in the film with a certain majestic restraint by Eric Bana. Unlike Ann, Mary was content to be the King's mistress and, as a result, found herself casted aside when the King tired of her.

Ann Boleyn, played with a robust bitchiness by Natalie Portman, had no intention of being used as her sister was. She insisted on being the King's wife, which was a little inconvenient because the King already had a wife named Catherine of Aragon. However Queen Catherine had not produced a male heir, which King Henry thought was necessary to avoid the kind of dynastic struggles England had gone through in the previous century. The problem was, in order to get a divorce, King Henry had to have permission of the Pope, who was not disposed to give it.

No matter. King Henry effected a divorce between England and the Catholic world, naming himself head of the English Church, and thus granting himself the divorce. Problem solved.

There is not a whole lot of politicking going on in The Other Boleyn Girl, however, as the focus appears to be on romance and human relations. The sex scenes are either tawdry and awkward with the participants covered up in flannel dressing gowns people in the Tudor Age insisted on wearing, even while making love, or else filmed in a kind of gauzy, out of focus technique that brings to mind some kind of half remembered memory.

Ann soon learns the old admonition to be careful what one wishes for. Her first child is a girl, Elizabeth as it turns out, which disappoints King Henry (oh, if he had only known). The second child, a boy, is miscarried. Now Ann is getting pretty desperate and is not thinking clearly. Her proposed solution to the problem is an "oh my God!" moment, even to those who are unfamiliar with Tudor history.

The inevitable occurs, as history records, and Ann is shortened by a head thanks to a headsman with a great sword. Mary must reflect that after all she got the better deal, though not having been Queen herself, at least getting to die a natural death.

Like most historical dramas, The Other Boleyn Girl does violence to actual history. For one thing, though the action of the film takes place over twenty years, both Mary and Ann remain apparently in their mid twenties. But nit picking over history is best left for the after movie dinner.

The Other Boleyn Girl doesn't have the dialogue of A Man for All Seasons nor the epic quality of Ann of the Thousand Days. But it's a pretty tolerable chick flick to take the wife or girlfriend too and has some good eye candy to look at, if nothing else.