Disappointment - Bad screenplay - Bad cinematography

Rating: 2/10 (23 March 2008)

Ignoring whether or not the book / movie is historically incorrect and basing this comment around whether the movie is in fact about the book.
The movie does little justice to the exceptional writing of Philippa Gregory. The book is huge, going into extreme detail, developing characters & personalities, displaying the life of the court around Henry VIII. Natalie Portman does not play the Anne in the book, she acts as the faux Anne from the script writers vision. Mary is done much the same, unfortunately. She is also supposed to be the slower one, always looking to others for answers whereas in the movie she is the one that is providing help and solace.
The characters ages are incredibly mixed. The book spans almost fourteen years (as Mary & Henry's initial child, Catherine becomes one of Anne's ladies in waiting). The characters start with Henry being portrayed as quite young, in comparison to his old wife Queen Katherine which is the basis for the rift, and Henry's eyes searching for another mistress (when he chooses Mary). Mary is in her younger teens, between 12-16 with Anne slightly older than her. Near the end of the book, Henry is described as getting older, suffers from a leg injury, gains weight and starts to bald. Anne & Mary are into their thirties.
The movie's introduction is incredibly inaccurate (to the book). Anne is supposed to be in France, at the court of the French Queen. Mary is at the court of Henry when she catches his eyes, beds him, and carries his child. Also of note, Mary falls in love with Henry. When Anne returns, Henry is still bedding with Mary but he becomes infatuated with her, only continuing to bed Mary out of habit.
The movie also fails to explain why later on Mary goes to Rochford with Stafford, they do not even explain what happened to her previous husband, Carey.
The camera I found agitating, there always seemed to be something in the way and the "soft focus" type image was over done, and frustrated me.
Overall, quite a disappointment. If they had made the film over 2 hours at least, pushing three, I think they could have easily done the book more justice.
One positive aspect, the costumes were done quite excellently.