Superb visuals and fine acting wasted on a poor script

Rating: 6/10 (11 October 2017)

The screen writing for The Other Boleyn Girl was disappointing. It was historically inaccurate and quite different from the book by Philippa Gregory.
However, there are some exemplary performances from Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana (although he looks nothing like red-haired Henry VIII), Jim Sturgess, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne, Ana Torrent and Kristin Scott Thomas. An exception is Natalie Portman, who has excelled in other roles, but she was not really the right person to play Anne Boleyn.
The cinematography is superb and the costumes are splendid.
It would have been better if they'd left out the incest scene. Most historians agree that the accusation of incest against Anne Boleyn was false, it was nothing more than a convenient way for Henry VIII to get rid of her.