Blog

\BY MAGGIE SCOTT

England isn’t quite so merry for a couple of adolescent girls who catch the eye of a king, in the historical drama, “The Other Boleyn Girl.” Based on the Philippa Gregory novel, this teasing, hokey work from director Justin Chadwick hasn’t a snowball’s chance of eclipsing far finer, previous productions dramatizing the well-known story of Henry the VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Stunning locations, rich costuming and striking photography that makes many of the film’s scenes look like Dutch masters paintings provide a façade of quality for a tale whose romance novel pretensions keep popping out of straight-laced political and feminist agendas.

The publicity for this movie flagrantly pushed a naughty threesome angle and the erotic charms and intellectual beauty of its leading ladies. But, once the dramatically threadbare seduction scenes are over, the story achieves more satisfying traction with the women out of bed and dealing with such matters as court intrigue, family ambitions, sibling rivalry and devotion and survival based on alliances that could be fatally tenuous.

For wealth and position, Sir Thomas Boleyn (Mark Rylance) and his wife, Lady Elizabeth (Kristin Scott Thomas) are willing to offer their daughters to the king (Eric Bana) as distractions from the misery of a loveless marriage which has produced no living male heir. Mary (Scarlett Johansson) has recently become the wife of a merchant’s son. Anne (Natalie Portman), not “simple and uncomplicated” like her sister, appears to be the one to throw at the king’s head.

Under the influence of power and romantic fantasies, Anne’s innate, yet unformed ambitions begin to germinate and burgeon. Shameless flirtation takes her to the brink of becoming Henry’s favorite. But, a fortuitous accident puts Mary in the king’s hot-blooded orbit.

Soon pregnant and confined to bed, Mary begins to lose her hold on the king, who turns his attention back to a rapidly maturing and conniving Anne. “Besotted,” the king turns into a supplicant to the coy and cunning Anne, who denies him her body until he meets her demands that he forsake both his wife and Mary, who has given birth to a son.

While Anne’s machinations are reprehensible and ill-conceived, Mary is able to forgive her, but not save her, when Anne becomes caught in the juggernaut of destiny. Both the patrician Portman and the pouty Johansson reveal a few finely faceted jewels of acting in a production otherwise made up of gaudy paste. BBC Films production, Focus Features release, rated PG-13 for sexual content.

Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson portray sisters in ‘ The Other Boleyn Girl’

.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us