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THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL suffers from overexposure to the
passion for all things Tudor that has produced multiple
novels, television series, and films that range from great
to mediocre. Having not read Philippa Gregory's best selling
novel, this viewer entered the theater without preconceived
notions of the path the story would take/stray in the wake
of heightened interest in historical data. From the opening
scenes to the end the impression is one of having viewed
some very beautiful scenery, sumptuous costumes, grand lighting
- and very little involvement in caring for the plight of
the characters. The soggy music score underlines the unrelenting
dark atmosphere of the story and the production, and despite
a cast of actors known for credibility in historic roles,
there is little compassion stirred.***
King Henry VIII (Eric Bana, in relatively little screen
time) tires of Katherine of Aragon (Ana Torent) and her
inability to bear a male heir. The Boleyn clan (Mark Rylance
and Kristin Scott Thomas in collusion with the Duke of Norfolk
David Morrissey) seize on Henry's frustration and serve
up their daughters Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett
Johansson) to satisfy his dalliances. The younger Mary beds
him first, produces a daughter (Elizabeth), then falls our
of favor leaving Anne to works her newly honed skills of
feminism learned in her exile to France on the easily seduced
King. The results are tension in the castle, in the Boleyn
family, and between the sisters Anne and Mary. History is
molded by the writer to maintain more of a Hollywood soap
opera that a recreation of fact and it all ends with beheadings
and the child Elizabeth running gaily through sunny old
meadows of England.***
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Final Words:
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The actors all try to make us buy into this version
of betrayal and lust and loathing, but the dialog (written
by Peter Morgan) is tired and used and anything but in keeping
with the period. But then, the movie is a collection of
scenes that are very pretty to watch... Justin Chadwick
directs.
Grady Harp, March 08
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