The sad saga of the Boleyns

Rating: 7/10 (4 March 2009)

If you are a student of history you know that this is not a movie in which everyone is destined to live happily ever after. If you are not a student of history you've probably wandered into the wrong movie. 16th century English royal dramas are not everyone's cup of tea. I suppose one could try to ignore the historical aspects and just look at this as a romance film. But there really is nothing particularly romantic going on here. The characters in this film are motivated by many things but love certainly does not seem to be one of them. It's a rather tawdry spectacle 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 important figure here this is not a film about the king. Rather it is the story of two sisters who would end up vying for his affection. The story of Anne Boleyn is well known. But there was another Boleyn girl. Anne's sister Mary may not be nearly as famous in the annals of history but she has her own story to tell. And in this film that story is told and some of it is even true. Yes, this is a film littered with historical inaccuracies. It's not a documentary, it's entertainment and the film takes 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 a story.
Natalie Portman plays Anne and her performance is probably the best thing about the film. It's a fascinating character arc to say the least and Portman hits all the right notes. Sweet and charming at times, conniving and ruthless at others. It's a powerful portrayal. Scarlett Johansson has a less showy role as Mary, not getting very many of the big dramatic moments presented to Portman. But her performance is certainly fine and she creates one of the very few sympathetic characters in the film. Mary does things of which she may not be proud but she really had very little choice. While Anne's lust for power is evident you get the sense Mary would have been perfectly happy living out a quiet, nondescript life out in the country. In the end Mary is one of the few who comes out of things able to hold her head relatively high. Since we're dealing with Henry VIII here the fact she holds on to her head at all is probably an achievement.
This is a film in which the story grabs you and it will certainly hold your interest throughout. For a period drama it is important to get the costumes and sets right to give things the proper feel and this film certainly does so. It looks spectacular. The film does have its problems though. There are some characters, most notably the sisters' father and especially their uncle, who are absolutely irredeemable louses and their presence at times makes it very hard to embrace the film. The things these two force upon the girls all for the supposed good of the family are deplorable. In their blind quest for power they don'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 Eric Bana's portrayal of Henry VIII is somewhat lacking. Henry does not come across as powerfully as one might expect. The ruthless streak is there but it seems there's a certain something missing. And while the story is engaging you feel that in the end things are rather rushed. The second half of the film moves at breakneck speed with important historical events flying by as the film hurries to its conclusion. After spending so much time setting up the connection between Henry and the sisters in the first half of the film more time certainly could have been spent to allow things to be properly paid off. All of a sudden 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 but entertaining enough and a worthwhile, if not always entirely accurate, look back at a fascinating time in history.