Based on the best selling novel by Phillippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl tells the story of two sisters who capture the affections of an English king. This sensuously filmed production has been criticised for its lack of historical accuracy, but the main events in the film did happen, even if Chadwick’s nuances give a different slant. King Henry VIII did have affairs with both Mary and Anne Boleyn. Mary did give birth to a son after the affair ended and Anne’s marriage to Henry was achieved only after religion in England was changed forever. Also, Anne and her brother were beheaded after scandalous accusations whilst Mary lived out her life on a country estate.
The film centres on the female characters with Mary (Scarlett Johansson) and Anne (Natalie Portman) looking as if they have just stepped out of original paintings of the time. The lighting, the costumes and the settings give authentic background to the melodramas and really need to be seen on the big screen. Even though the girls’ mother (Kirsten Scott-Thomas) tells them that the art of being a woman is to allow men to believe that they are in charge, Eric Bana’s Henry seems like a particularly weak character driven by only one part of his anatomy… and the need to have a male heir.
Modern sensibilities certainly mix with the historical data that has managed to survive the 500 year interim, and it is a wonderful tale of intrigue as characters jostle for the most powerful positions.
Directed by Justin Chadwick, Rated PG
