CINEMA: The Other Boleyn Girl

From a box office point of view you can understand the producers of this film wanting to have three ‘big’ names for the main characters in what is, to all intents and purposes, a bit of a bodice-ripper. But could they really not find three British stars with enough box office appeal to play King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary, and so had to resort to two Yanks and an Aussie instead?Having been married to his Spanish Catholic wife for years and only produced one healthy girl offspring, Henry VIII (Eric Bana) is despairing of ever having a male heir.

Casting his eye and his seed elsewhere, Henry’s head is turned when he visits the country estate of the ambitious Sir Thomas Boleyn (Mark Rylance) and his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) and meets their daughter Mary (Scarlett Johansson). Mary subsequently becomes his mistress and bears him a bastard son, but her womanly wiles are no match for those of her conniving sister Anne (Natalie Portman), who has set her sights on becoming the Queen of England, and no sense of propriety or care for Mary’s feelings are going to stand in her way.

Unfortunately, neither Johansson nor Portman are accomplished enough actresses in order to convince as seductresses. Portman, in particular, is very lightweight and cannot convey the sense of dangerous sexuality of a temptress capable of bending a King to her will. Johansson’s role is primarily passive and dutiful and so never really makes a huge impression, while Bana throws his weight about a good deal and simply comes across as petulant.

But worse than the acting is the truly woeful dialogue with Sir Thomas at one stage imploring his wife to ‘look on the bright side’! In fact, it is Kristin Scott Thomas as Lady Boleyn who acts the younger members of the cast off the screen, and manages to bring a sense of sincerity and gravitas to her role. It’s a bit like TV’s The Tudors without the bonking or the bad language and is far less entertaining for it.     Dee Pilgrim