THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL [PG-13]

As Mel Brooks once said, “It’s good to be the King.” As history has revealed, though, it was not good to be a Boleyn.

Actor/director Justin Chadwick’s The Other Boleyn Girl, based on Phillipa Gregory’s book, is a historical drama that somethings very well. It’s nicely acted with Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana in the lead roles. It’s beautifully photographed as to resemble Vermeer’s paintings, and tells the tale of one of history’s most Machiavellian females – but we already know how poorly it turns out for Anne. Yet despite all the pomp, glory and drama, this new version of the story is a bit on the dull side, especially compared with the 1969 film of the same story, Anne Of 1000 Days (with Geneviève Bujold in the title role).

Anyone’s interest in seeing this version comes with the historical events themselves, which recount how Anne Boleyn, through the help of an ambitious uncle, schemed her way into the court of Henry VIII. The difference here is that the film refocuses on Anne’s sister Mary, who gave birth to a son from King Henry, whom she was never able to wed. But the problem with the story is that Mary is simply a nice, boring girl who falls in love with the King, but can never become his queen. Scarlett Johansson plays Mary and she’s very good, but she quickly loses ground as Natalie Portman’s Anne takes center stage. While the title promises Mary’s story, the film becomes all about Anne, the off-with-her-head girl we all know and love.

At the time of his dalliance with Mary Boleyn, Henry was inconveniently married to his Spanish bride Queen Katherine who refused to divorce him or give up her crown. Mary Boleyn retired to the countryside to raise the boy while Anne, with her Uncle Lord Norfolk, and her father controlling her every move, instruct her to become the King’s new mistress. She, though, takes another tact: to sleep with Henry until he divorces Katherine and marries her, and her machinations lead to one of the watershed moments in English history. Enraptured by Anne, Henry found Queen Katherine guilty of treason, broke with the Roman Catholic Church and invented the Church of England so he could wed her. Friendless in the court, Anne asks her estranged sister Mary to come back to London to be her companion and confidant. But once the crown is placed on her head, Anne quickly realizes her only value is to give Henry the male heir that Katherine had not been able to do.

The story builds to its inevitable conclusion, but not before some juicy accusations of incest that leads to Anne’s beheading (no big plot disclosure here.) What makes it so interesting is that you couldn’t make this stuff up. But because we already know the ending, the whole beautiful venture just lies up there on the screen with nothing really new or revealing to offer. If you’re going to retell the story, then you better do a better job than what has gone before; and switching the story slightly to be as much about Mary as it is about Anne is simply not enough. “The Other Boleyn Girl’ is a very pretty picture, but that’s about all it is. –Howie Green