Rated: PG-13
Director: Justin Chadwick
Cast: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana
The two Boleyn sisters, Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett Johansson), are persuaded by their elders to advance the family’s social standing by winning the affection of the King Henry VIII (Eric Bana). Mary becomes his mistress and bears him an illegitimate child. Anne's relentless pursuit of the King tears apart the Queen, the country and her bond with her own sister.
The Other Boleyn Girl is based on the controversial best selling novel by Philippa Gregory. It was promising in the beginning. The elaborate sets and sumptuous costumes were impressive. But I realized the film lacked the splendor of a true epic as soon as I saw the CGI landscape and castle shots. My eyes were rolling before any of the character’s heads did due to the questionable historical accuracy. All in the name of "creative license" no doubt.
The script by Peter Morgan (Last King of Scotland) was surprisingly dull and passionless... after all, this is a story about sex and betrayal. He tediously recounts every plot point several times. At one point Anne actually says, "I've become the other Boleyn girl." The explanatory dialogue and haphazard direction from BBC veteran, Justin Chadwick, reeks of a bad TV movie. The overblown dramatic score only weighed the pace down. Even more distracting was the shoddy camera work with way too many shots from behind a lattice or partition in some failed attempt to mimic Hitchcock.
At least we had some eye candy to watch. But even hunky Eric Bana jumping back and forth between these two contrasting beauties wasn’t enough to hold my attention. All three of their performances were awkward and unconvincing. Both of the female leads fall flat and the acting just seemed forced. Bana merely does a lot of stomping angrily from one room to another. He lacked chemistry in the seduction scenes. All of the accents were faltering throughout the movie. Bana’s Melbourne twang kept popping up. Portman and Johanssen clearly needed more time with the dialogue coach. David Morrissey turned his character, the girls’ uncle, into an over-the-top villain. The only decent performance came from Kristin Scott Thomas as the girls' mother, Lady Elizabeth.
I'm usually a big fan of the period piece and since I had read the book, I really wanted to like this movie. But the truth is, this genre has been done better hundreds of times before. The Other Boelyn Girl was no more than a disappointing high-budget Lifetime movie. I can only give it 1 out of 5 stars.
THis was just kind of bland. Good review.
When Natalie Portman was giving birth, I was just like, not again, she's giving birth to the Skywalker Twins again. Where was the passion in this film?
And Eric Bana who I like a lot seemed out of place too.
oh, what a dismiss, and so much i love Portman and Johansson!