The only thing that could come between these sisters... is a kingdom.
A sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.
Genre(s): Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Runtime: 115 minutes
Rating: 6.8/10 (21,787 votes)
Release Date: 15 February 2008
Country: UK, USA
Languages: English
Company: BBC Films
Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexual content and some violent images.
Director(s): Justin Chadwick
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Producer(s):
Mark Cooper - co-producer
Alison Owen - producer
Jane Robertson - line producer: additional photography
Scott Rudin - executive producer
David M. Thompson - executive producer
Faye Ward - associate producer
Writer(s):
Peter Morgan - (screenplay)
Philippa Gregory - (novel)
Cast:
Natalie Portman - Anne Boleyn
Scarlett Johansson - Mary Boleyn
Eric Bana - Henry Tudor
Jim Sturgess - George Boleyn
Mark Rylance - Sir Thomas Boleyn
Kristin Scott Thomas - Lady Elizabeth Boleyn
David Morrissey - The Duke of Norfolk
Benedict Cumberbatch - William Carey
Oliver Coleman - Henry Percy
Ana Torrent - Katherine of Aragon
Music: Paul Cantelon
Mark Cooper - co-producer
Alison Owen - producer
Jane Robertson - line producer: additional photography
Scott Rudin - executive producer
David M. Thompson - executive producer
Faye Ward - associate producer
Writer(s):
Peter Morgan - (screenplay)
Philippa Gregory - (novel)
Cast:
Natalie Portman - Anne Boleyn
Scarlett Johansson - Mary Boleyn
Eric Bana - Henry Tudor
Jim Sturgess - George Boleyn
Mark Rylance - Sir Thomas Boleyn
Kristin Scott Thomas - Lady Elizabeth Boleyn
David Morrissey - The Duke of Norfolk
Benedict Cumberbatch - William Carey
Oliver Coleman - Henry Percy
Ana Torrent - Katherine of Aragon
Music: Paul Cantelon
Posted on: February 25, 2008
January 19th, 2009
I had high expectations for this film, loving everything about thattime frame. But when it first began, I thought that this looked like amade for TV movie and checked the listing again.
I found the film very claustrophobic, dark, dull and frankly, boring.The costumes were awful – silly really. The girls looked like twinswith only the colour of the dresses telling them apart. The dresseswere dull, no great patterns, jewelry, or anything remarkable. Even thehair just look flat ironed and boring. True to the time? I don't know -I cannot imagine that they really did not have more variety.
Makeup? Hello! Where was the makeup artist? Even the Egyptians woremakeup. And I could not look at those weird hats after a while. Really?Everyone wore them? Without much variety again? It seemed like all thecostumes were recycled over and over again.
The movie felt filmed on sets for almost everything. There was never asense of space to me, just one set to another, and some really strangeshots as if there was a limited space so we needed a body part up closelike an elbow then another character in the distance to indicate space.This seemed like a very under-budget way of directing to me.
The acting though I enjoyed, and even if the story wasn't entirelyfactual, it was fun, and seemed to ring true as to the nature of AnneBoleyn.
Ultimately, this seemed like a TV movie fitted to the big screen (asopposed to the usual vice versa). So much room for so muchgorgeousness, wasted in tight shots and dinginess.
February 9th, 2009
The story of the six wives of Henry the Eigth is a staple of Britishhistory. Director Justin Chaswick , who cut his teeth on period dramawith a TV production of "Bleak House", makes an excellent job ofconverting Phillipa Gregory's novel, in which she picks out the Boleyngirls contribution, onto the Big screen. Much of the credit for thisgoes to Peter Morgan whose fine screenplay confirms his status of oneof the best writers of screen dialogue around at the moment.Whilsthistorically inaccurate in some key respects, the context is enough toprovide a convincing and rewarding "faction".
Two hours of intrigue, treachery, plotting and heartbreak focus on theefforts of the Boleyn family to do a spot of social climbing courtesyof their daughters Anne and Mary. Natalie Portman as the former, leavesScarlett Johansson as the latter somewhat in her wake in a toweringperformance of froideur and ambition. Eric Bana as King Henry isabsolutely convincing is his arrogant amorality, yet still allows theside of him which can be manipulated by women to shine through.
Lavish, whilst falling short of being a full blown costume drama, thestory depends upon plot , rather than action, and succeedstriumphantly. The below par CGI recreations of Medieval Cityscapes aremore than compensated for by a rip roaring pace to a cleverly pacedtale. My only criticism is that the cerebral battle between Henry andhis wife Catherine, and the visceral passion of his relationships withAnne and Mary are somewhat under drawn, presumably to give it as widean audience as possible with a 12A rating.
However the ingredients of a King, mistresses, a scheming Court andrazor sharp dialogue deliver an impressive result, which I canrecommend to all.
March 2nd, 2009
Despite the strong performances, this is just too depressing to bereally enjoyable. Anne and Mary Boleyn (Natalie Portman and ScarlettJohansson) are sisters competing for the affections of the King (EricBana as Henry Tudor). The King is seeking a male heir to his throne,and when the Queen is unable to provide one, he decides to take amistress. He is attracted to Anne, but then he meets Mary and falls forher. Mary would prefer a simple life in the country with her husband,but her father (Mark Rylance as Sir Thomas Boleyn) and uncle (DavidMorrissey as Thomas Howard – Duke of Norfolk) pressure her intobecoming the King's whore. But the King becomes bored with the simplegirl, and he falls under the spell of the scheming Anne. She persuadeshim to break with the Catholic church and have his marriage annulled,so that she can marry him. Of course her tricks all back-fire when theKing realizes how he's being manipulated. Unfortunately, all thesetwists and turns in the plot are not very entertaining. The acting isconsistently fine, especially by Portman, and the film is visuallyoutstanding. The story just becomes too unpleasant as it unfolds, andthe phony happy ending doesn't fool anyone.
March 4th, 2009
If you are a student of history you know that this is not a movie inwhich everyone is destined to live happily ever after. If you are not astudent of history you've probably wandered into the wrong movie. 16thcentury English royal dramas are not everyone's cup of tea. I supposeone could try to ignore the historical aspects and just look at this asa romance film. But there really is nothing particularly romantic goingon here. The characters in this film are motivated by many things butlove certainly does not seem to be one of them. It's a rather tawdryspectacle and very few of the characters do much to earn your sympathy.But there is no denying that it is an enjoyable, compelling film.
Henry VIII has been a popular film subject but while he is an importantfigure here this is not a film about the king. Rather it is the storyof two sisters who would end up vying for his affection. The story ofAnne Boleyn is well known. But there was another Boleyn girl. Anne'ssister Mary may not be nearly as famous in the annals of history butshe has her own story to tell. And in this film that story is told andsome of it is even true. Yes, this is a film littered with historicalinaccuracies. It's not a documentary, it's entertainment and the filmtakes liberties with the truth to try to make things more interesting.But the gist of the actual historical story is there. And it is quite astory.
Natalie Portman plays Anne and her performance is probably the bestthing about the film. It's a fascinating character arc to say the leastand Portman hits all the right notes. Sweet and charming at times,conniving and ruthless at others. It's a powerful portrayal. ScarlettJohansson has a less showy role as Mary, not getting very many of thebig dramatic moments presented to Portman. But her performance iscertainly fine and she creates one of the very few sympatheticcharacters in the film. Mary does things of which she may not be proudbut she really had very little choice. While Anne's lust for power isevident you get the sense Mary would have been perfectly happy livingout a quiet, nondescript life out in the country. In the end Mary isone of the few who comes out of things able to hold her head relativelyhigh. Since we're dealing with Henry VIII here the fact she holds on toher head at all is probably an achievement.
This is a film in which the story grabs you and it will certainly holdyour interest throughout. For a period drama it is important to get thecostumes and sets right to give things the proper feel and this filmcertainly does so. It looks spectacular. The film does have itsproblems though. There are some characters, most notably the sisters'father and especially their uncle, who are absolutely irredeemablelouses and their presence at times makes it very hard to embrace thefilm. The things these two force upon the girls all for the supposedgood of the family are deplorable. In their blind quest for power theydon't seem to mind the fact that they may well ruin the girls' lives.Whereas Portman and Johansson do fine work one gets the sense that EricBana's portrayal of Henry VIII is somewhat lacking. Henry does not comeacross as powerfully as one might expect. The ruthless streak is therebut it seems there's a certain something missing. And while the storyis engaging you feel that in the end things are rather rushed. Thesecond half of the film moves at breakneck speed with importanthistorical events flying by as the film hurries to its conclusion.After spending so much time setting up the connection between Henry andthe sisters in the first half of the film more time certainly couldhave been spent to allow things to be properly paid off. All of asudden the film's over and you're left wanting to see and know more.All in all it's an enjoyable film. Not perfect by any means butentertaining enough and a worthwhile, if not always entirely accurate,look back at a fascinating time in history.
March 24th, 2009
I went into this movie having an urge to read the Gregory book andwanted to see what the big deal was. I love Tudor history so it was amust to see…as I thought to believe I was immediately disappointedand lost the urge to read the book. Mary Boleyn was not a virginalnaive girl when she married Carey. my god she was already the whore ofFrance by then and married Carey after the affair with Henry since hewas the one who had her betrothed to Carey. Johannson did an okay job,not too thrilling.
Natalie Portman's portrayal of Anne Boleyn who was one of the mostintriguing and controversial women ever was lacking. I mean the wholerole fell flat. She wasn't very seductive or dominant in Anne's shoes.She seemed very submissive to Norfolk and Wiltshire more so than otherportrayals.
This movie played more like a soap opera than a Tudor period piece. Itwas missing a lot of important pieces in the romance of Anne and Henry.And to even suggest that Elizabeth I Gloriana was even the product ofrape is horrifying. And even the suggestion that Henry would even rapeAnne. the shame. Henry was obsessed with Anne (which it was easy toarrest her for witchcraft and treason). when she finally submitted tohim in late 1532 it was purely consensual.
Wolsey, who played a major part in the King's Great Matter was missingand he was truly missed. More, Suffolk, Katherine of Aragon and JaneSeymour were either small parts or reduced to scenery.
It seems to me that the only historically accurate moment in the moviewas Anne's execution. Everything else was just shameful. Gregory theauthor should not be considered an historian as she claims she is. Thepeople who made this film are not at fault for bad source material. buthonestly they should have researched.