The Other Boleyn Girl: Portman Outshines That Other Boleyn Girl
Natalie Portman should be mad at the rest of the cast and crew of The Other Boleyn Girl, the same way that Cate Blanchett should have been mad at hers in the Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It must be maddening to put so much effort and time into a performance only to have the director, editor, cinematographer, and her fellow actors put in half the effort at best.
The Other Boleyn Girl is an interesting idea turned into a bland movie by not trusting it’s instincts. There is something sad about a movie that could have been more than a chick flick if given only a little more attention. The story revolves around two sisters: Mary and Anne Boleyn, played by Scarlett Johanssen and Natalie Portman respectively. When the story starts, Mary is betrothed to a merchant meant for Anne, whom her father sees being capable of much more. Just after Mary’s wedding, an opportunity appears when news travels that King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) and his wife are not doing so well. She has not been able to conceive an heir to the throne, which is seriously bothering her husband. He might be in the market for a mistress. Anne’s father gives her the charge. Things don’t go too well for Anne and Henry comes to meet Mary. His attraction to her is immediate and has her and her husband move to court, where they are to separate.
Mary isn’t a fool, but she goes anyways. It doesn’t take long for her to be found in the king’s bed and not much longer to be with his child. But during the hard pregnancy, Anne starts to seduce Henry again, this time using seduction techniques that bewitch him with lustful abandon. She winds him around her finger quickly to the point he abandons Mary and his wife, not to mention the Catholic Church. Mary is sent to the country and Henry’s wife to a nunnery, but Henry finds that the price he paid for Anne’s treachery might be too high and with very little in return. What happens later is history by means of trashy romance novels.
Why do major British films about the Tudors seem to revolve around romanticized versions of their kings and queens? In an age of realistic portraits of historic figures, it appears that the British Monarchy of the Elizabethan Age is beyond reproach. Not that they make Henry VIII the nicest man in the world. But the film seems relaxed in it’s portrayal of a lustful king who didn’t care who hurt in his pursuits. It accepts his nature in a way that appears to condone his attitude towards women and his kingdom. When he has done wrong, he broods. Brooding doesn’t equal complexity.
The movie does take an interesting look on pregnancy in the upper circles of society. This is pure breeding and it’s sexist, elitist, and only understandable to those who care about such things. The way that pregnancy is looked at by the characters is almost vulgar. I would like to say that such talk doesn’t exist today, but I know I’d be lying to myself.
If there were two really good things about The Other Boleyn Girl, it would the costumes and Natalie Portman. But the costumes seem to bring out more in Ms. Portman while all the other actors in the movie seem to be swallowed whole by them. I must amend that I didn’t like the pointed hats that the ladies wear. They look like a house’s roof. But Portman seems to understand the complexity of Anne Boleyn and has crafted a performance full of nuance and subtle seduction. We can understand why Henry would sacrifice his kingdom to have her because she’s also teasing the audience, daring us to find her sexual temptress appealing. And she does.
Unfortunately, the other actors she’s on screen with do not rise to the challenge that Portman lays down. Johanssen seems to come off too much like a wallflower when we need her to show some sort of resolve. Mary is a weak character to begin with, but we never understand why Mary gains Henry’s respect even after he abandons her. Bana seems too eager to show his acting chops that he overcompensates action for inaction. He tries too hard to become Henry VIII instead of allowing it to happen. A good example would be the hat he wears early in the film that seems only there to say, “Here is Henry VIII!” And then there’s Kirsten Scott Thomas as the mom to the Boleyn Girls (funny how she played Johanssen’s mom in The Horse Whisperer ten years ago) who fatally under acts and always seemed to be sedated by a horse tranquilizer.
I wonder what Peter Morgan (The Queen, Longford) had done with his first script. I wonder how much of his vision made it to the screen or if this were one of his first screenplays that only found the light of day after his Oscar win. Either way, the material seems amateurish in the hands of these filmmakers. Director Justin Chadwick seems to think this movie is capable of being a romantic epic on the level of Joe Wright or David Lean, but forgets that an epic must not only be grand in scale but also micromanage emotions for all of it’s characters. He treats the pithy dialogue as though overstatement means scale. By forcing his characters to create emotions instead of allowing them to actually feel, the movie lags and losses momentum in awkward at the worst times.
All in all, this isn’t much of a movie, and I can’t for the life of me recommend it even for the Portman performance. But if Blanchett can get nominated for the Elizabeth sequel, I’m sure Ms. Portman might see a chance of Oscar. She might just deserve one for having to be in this turkey.
Grade: C-
The Other Boleyn Girl is an interesting idea turned into a bland movie by not trusting it’s instincts. There is something sad about a movie that could have been more than a chick flick if given only a little more attention. The story revolves around two sisters: Mary and Anne Boleyn, played by Scarlett Johanssen and Natalie Portman respectively. When the story starts, Mary is betrothed to a merchant meant for Anne, whom her father sees being capable of much more. Just after Mary’s wedding, an opportunity appears when news travels that King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) and his wife are not doing so well. She has not been able to conceive an heir to the throne, which is seriously bothering her husband. He might be in the market for a mistress. Anne’s father gives her the charge. Things don’t go too well for Anne and Henry comes to meet Mary. His attraction to her is immediate and has her and her husband move to court, where they are to separate.
Mary isn’t a fool, but she goes anyways. It doesn’t take long for her to be found in the king’s bed and not much longer to be with his child. But during the hard pregnancy, Anne starts to seduce Henry again, this time using seduction techniques that bewitch him with lustful abandon. She winds him around her finger quickly to the point he abandons Mary and his wife, not to mention the Catholic Church. Mary is sent to the country and Henry’s wife to a nunnery, but Henry finds that the price he paid for Anne’s treachery might be too high and with very little in return. What happens later is history by means of trashy romance novels.
Why do major British films about the Tudors seem to revolve around romanticized versions of their kings and queens? In an age of realistic portraits of historic figures, it appears that the British Monarchy of the Elizabethan Age is beyond reproach. Not that they make Henry VIII the nicest man in the world. But the film seems relaxed in it’s portrayal of a lustful king who didn’t care who hurt in his pursuits. It accepts his nature in a way that appears to condone his attitude towards women and his kingdom. When he has done wrong, he broods. Brooding doesn’t equal complexity.
The movie does take an interesting look on pregnancy in the upper circles of society. This is pure breeding and it’s sexist, elitist, and only understandable to those who care about such things. The way that pregnancy is looked at by the characters is almost vulgar. I would like to say that such talk doesn’t exist today, but I know I’d be lying to myself.
If there were two really good things about The Other Boleyn Girl, it would the costumes and Natalie Portman. But the costumes seem to bring out more in Ms. Portman while all the other actors in the movie seem to be swallowed whole by them. I must amend that I didn’t like the pointed hats that the ladies wear. They look like a house’s roof. But Portman seems to understand the complexity of Anne Boleyn and has crafted a performance full of nuance and subtle seduction. We can understand why Henry would sacrifice his kingdom to have her because she’s also teasing the audience, daring us to find her sexual temptress appealing. And she does.
Unfortunately, the other actors she’s on screen with do not rise to the challenge that Portman lays down. Johanssen seems to come off too much like a wallflower when we need her to show some sort of resolve. Mary is a weak character to begin with, but we never understand why Mary gains Henry’s respect even after he abandons her. Bana seems too eager to show his acting chops that he overcompensates action for inaction. He tries too hard to become Henry VIII instead of allowing it to happen. A good example would be the hat he wears early in the film that seems only there to say, “Here is Henry VIII!” And then there’s Kirsten Scott Thomas as the mom to the Boleyn Girls (funny how she played Johanssen’s mom in The Horse Whisperer ten years ago) who fatally under acts and always seemed to be sedated by a horse tranquilizer.
I wonder what Peter Morgan (The Queen, Longford) had done with his first script. I wonder how much of his vision made it to the screen or if this were one of his first screenplays that only found the light of day after his Oscar win. Either way, the material seems amateurish in the hands of these filmmakers. Director Justin Chadwick seems to think this movie is capable of being a romantic epic on the level of Joe Wright or David Lean, but forgets that an epic must not only be grand in scale but also micromanage emotions for all of it’s characters. He treats the pithy dialogue as though overstatement means scale. By forcing his characters to create emotions instead of allowing them to actually feel, the movie lags and losses momentum in awkward at the worst times.
All in all, this isn’t much of a movie, and I can’t for the life of me recommend it even for the Portman performance. But if Blanchett can get nominated for the Elizabeth sequel, I’m sure Ms. Portman might see a chance of Oscar. She might just deserve one for having to be in this turkey.
Grade: C-
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