An extraordinary tale of sex, passion and royal intrigue. This is
the little-known story of Mary Boleyn who was mistress to King
Henry VIII before he married her older sister, Anne. Inspired by
Philippa Gregory's novel of the same name, The Other Boleyn Girl
is about great families jockeying for position and using their
daughters as pawns in a deadly game. Set during one of the most
notorious periods in British regal history, it is a powerful
narrative and at its heart is the relationship between two rivals
- The Boleyn Sisters.
From .co.uk
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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 (lett 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 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 s 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
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Synopsis
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Natalie Portman and lett Johansson star as Anne and Mary
Boleyn in this adaptation of the bestselling novel by Philippa
Gregory. While their story is perhaps one of history's most well
known, The Other Boleyn Girl has fun with the facts, creating a
lusty, dramatic tale of deception and betrayal. The film begins
with the girls' power-hungry uncle (David Morrissey), discovering
that King Henry VIII's (Eric Bana) marriage to Catherine of
Aragon (Ana Torrent) is falling apart. Their uncle suggests to
their her (Mark Rylance) that he tempt the King into taking
Anne (Portman) as his mistress, thus putting the family in the
King's favour. But the King has no time for the strong-willed
Anne, and instead turns his attentions to her already married,
soft-spoken sister Mary. With her eye on the Queen's crown, Anne
renews her attempts to seduce the king, driving a wedge between
her and her sister.
Bana is a brooding, sexy Henry, and Portman and Johansson both
give strong performances as the beautiful and bew sisters.
While some might quibble over the historical inaccuracies of the
film, most will let themselves get lost in the sea of beautiful
bodices, and the anticipation of when those bodices might be
ripped.
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