Period Piece on a Dysfunctional Family

Rating: 6/10 (21 April 2008)

I like historical fiction in general. I like films that deal with historical events. So I really made time out of this very busy week to see this film. The star power of course helped a lot to convince me to catch this. Imagine a movie that combines Natalie Portman AND Scarlett Johannsen. It is certainly a must-see for that combination alone.
These two stars played the Boleyn sisters at the time of Henry VIII. Natalie is the more familiar Boleyn girl Anne, while Scarlett plays the unknown sister Mary. While their ambitious family is trying to push Anne to interest the King (played by the lucky Eric Bana), he actually falls for younger and married Mary first. Because of this, the family is brought to live in the King's court. Mary gets pregnant and gives birth to a son. But by then, the King has turned his eyes to Anne.
The rest of the story, we are more familiar with already -- how Anne teases the King with her wiles so much that he breaks with the Catholic Church in order to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon. However, when the King finally gains Anne's body (in an unexpectedly violent manner in this film), he is at the same time racked with severe guilt feelings about what he had done.
This situation was not helped when Anne first born was a daughter. When Anne suffered a miscarriage next, she was already on the brink of madness on how to hang on to her position in court, especially since the king has already begun to show interest in Jane Seymour.
We all know what happens to Anne in the end, so there is really no suspense there. But the family dynamics in the Boleyn family is really very interesting, albeit disturbing, to watch. The side stories and fates of Mary and brother George, as with those of their parents (particularly the mother so well-played by Kristin Scott Thomas) are so well integrated in the known history. I am not really sure where fiction separates from facts in these auxiliary stories.
It was melodramatic, that is for sure. There were so many key omissions, such as the role of Thomas More, who was not even mentioned. Nevertheless, I was entertained. Got me interested to reading the book by Philippa Gregory soon. Good enough just to see Natalie and Scarlett together, most definitely.