Andrew McMurtryThe Other Boleyn Girl 7/10
March 25th 2008 15:22
Just by observing the poster for this film, you know you're not going to be getting an award winning epic but a soap opera-ish pout fest. But I was excited anyway because it was written by Peter Morgan who wrote The Queen (which I adored), and stars one of my favourite actresses, Natalie Portman.
Now, as the one who titled herself "The Sydney Uni Film Buff", I'm going to do what reviewers shouldn't, which is to ignore the soundtrack, editting, lighting and cinematography and focus mainly on the script, direction and acting. Because I'd do a terrible job reviewing the other stuff anyway, I'm an English major for god's sake.
So here's the lowdown. The Boleyns are happily living in their country celebrating the marriage of their youngest daughter, the fair and sweet natured Mary (Scarlett Johansson) while they wait for someone of a much higher standing for their ultra clever and headstrong Anne (Natalie Portman). Their son George (Jim Sturgess from that god awful Across The Universe) struts around like a cad gossiping with Anne about the guys checking her out at the wedding. While this is happening, the Queen has a stillborn, and King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) is pissed. He's gonna want to bang some pretty lass to ease his pain. So The Boleyn Girls' uncle, one of the King's gentlemen, convinces the Boleyns to make Anne his mistress. Them being so deep in debt, they rise to the challenge and Anne starts flirting like crazy for the sexy Henry. But uh oh, he likes the quiet ignored daughter Mary, as he sees something special in her. So she becomes the mistress, Anne gets tossed aside, and she wants revenge. And if you're at all in the know with English history, you know what happens next.
The script was adequate, considering the subject they decided to focus on, which is the love-triangle between the Boleyns and King Henry. They focus on it well, and they depict the love scenes quite tastefully, but this means all the political ramifications of their romping around pretty much gets skimmed over in a few sparse exchanges "I tore this country apart... for you!" and countless scenes of Henry sitting in his chamber brooding. And as sexy as Eric Bana is at looking tormented, at some point I'd want to see the country actually being torn apart by their love. I also thought it had more cheek than it needed - we wanted more punch, more raw emotion, more pain, not Anne making suggestive comments about her horse riding skills.
Natalie Portman is competent as the great figure that was Anne Boleyn, the ho that caused the end of the Catholic control of England. But to me she wasn't being vindictive, seductive or wily enough to win me over or even confront me with her destructive ambition. It just pissed me off that it was so affecting the extremely sweet and loyal Mary, and left me little sympathy for Anne's ultimate depise. But I didn't want to have that feeling, I wanted to understand what was going through Anne's head it wasn't being clear enough to me and so I was left feeling annoyed. Johansson's portrayl on the other hand was so tender and delicate, great care was taken with that role because there had to be someone within this chaos that had to have a heart to sympathise with. King Henry, he was a big man who liked to wear huge fur coats, talked in a booming voice and slept around a lot. He had grandeur, but no depth...except when he was brooding. Not enough emphasis was placed on his intellect or his political power and was mainly superficial, which makes this film comparable to Coppola's Marie Antoinette. Which REALLY pissed me off.
The support acts were all better than expected. No one settled into stereotypes, everyone worked their best to give as much dimension to their characters as possible, considering they were playing people in a very conservative place where emotions were set aside for wealth and position. The cinematography and music helped to bring out to the audience the emotions that they would have otherwise not have been able to express at that time.
So overall, it was a good, entertaining watch with a good flow and atmosphere. You felt the tension, the sisterly love and rivalry, the struggles of loyalty to one's family as well as to the King of England. Check it out and sigh in relief that Scarlett Johansson's in a good movie for once and Natalie Portman has hair and isn't a naked nymphomanic. And unlike me, try to ignore the oddness of having two American Jews and a Croatian-German Australian play historical English Catholic figures. I guess that's Hollywood nowadays.
Now, as the one who titled herself "The Sydney Uni Film Buff", I'm going to do what reviewers shouldn't, which is to ignore the soundtrack, editting, lighting and cinematography and focus mainly on the script, direction and acting. Because I'd do a terrible job reviewing the other stuff anyway, I'm an English major for god's sake.
So here's the lowdown. The Boleyns are happily living in their country celebrating the marriage of their youngest daughter, the fair and sweet natured Mary (Scarlett Johansson) while they wait for someone of a much higher standing for their ultra clever and headstrong Anne (Natalie Portman). Their son George (Jim Sturgess from that god awful Across The Universe) struts around like a cad gossiping with Anne about the guys checking her out at the wedding. While this is happening, the Queen has a stillborn, and King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) is pissed. He's gonna want to bang some pretty lass to ease his pain. So The Boleyn Girls' uncle, one of the King's gentlemen, convinces the Boleyns to make Anne his mistress. Them being so deep in debt, they rise to the challenge and Anne starts flirting like crazy for the sexy Henry. But uh oh, he likes the quiet ignored daughter Mary, as he sees something special in her. So she becomes the mistress, Anne gets tossed aside, and she wants revenge. And if you're at all in the know with English history, you know what happens next.
The script was adequate, considering the subject they decided to focus on, which is the love-triangle between the Boleyns and King Henry. They focus on it well, and they depict the love scenes quite tastefully, but this means all the political ramifications of their romping around pretty much gets skimmed over in a few sparse exchanges "I tore this country apart... for you!" and countless scenes of Henry sitting in his chamber brooding. And as sexy as Eric Bana is at looking tormented, at some point I'd want to see the country actually being torn apart by their love. I also thought it had more cheek than it needed - we wanted more punch, more raw emotion, more pain, not Anne making suggestive comments about her horse riding skills.
Natalie Portman is competent as the great figure that was Anne Boleyn, the ho that caused the end of the Catholic control of England. But to me she wasn't being vindictive, seductive or wily enough to win me over or even confront me with her destructive ambition. It just pissed me off that it was so affecting the extremely sweet and loyal Mary, and left me little sympathy for Anne's ultimate depise. But I didn't want to have that feeling, I wanted to understand what was going through Anne's head it wasn't being clear enough to me and so I was left feeling annoyed. Johansson's portrayl on the other hand was so tender and delicate, great care was taken with that role because there had to be someone within this chaos that had to have a heart to sympathise with. King Henry, he was a big man who liked to wear huge fur coats, talked in a booming voice and slept around a lot. He had grandeur, but no depth...except when he was brooding. Not enough emphasis was placed on his intellect or his political power and was mainly superficial, which makes this film comparable to Coppola's Marie Antoinette. Which REALLY pissed me off.
The support acts were all better than expected. No one settled into stereotypes, everyone worked their best to give as much dimension to their characters as possible, considering they were playing people in a very conservative place where emotions were set aside for wealth and position. The cinematography and music helped to bring out to the audience the emotions that they would have otherwise not have been able to express at that time.
So overall, it was a good, entertaining watch with a good flow and atmosphere. You felt the tension, the sisterly love and rivalry, the struggles of loyalty to one's family as well as to the King of England. Check it out and sigh in relief that Scarlett Johansson's in a good movie for once and Natalie Portman has hair and isn't a naked nymphomanic. And unlike me, try to ignore the oddness of having two American Jews and a Croatian-German Australian play historical English Catholic figures. I guess that's Hollywood nowadays.
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