THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL--NO COUNTRY FOR SLUTS, OR DISLOYAL, DAUGHTER BEARING WIVES
Written: Mar 01 '08 (Updated Mar 01 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Ana Torrent; Great Production value; Portman gets decapitated!
Cons: David Morrissey; Eric Bana is wasted; shamefully ridiculous story elements; Portman gets decapitated!
The Bottom Line: Despite a great villainous turn by Natalie Portman, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL takes momentous events in royal British history and turns them into vicious, ridiculous, tabloid camp
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| jarvococker's Full Review: The Other Boleyn Girl |
"I failed you as an elder sister," Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) confesses to Mary (Scarlett Johansson) in a rare moment of sisterly intimacy early in the new film THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. The occasion is Mary's wedding night to a chump (Translation--no title or fortune). Anne's failure is not being able to provide sound sex advice before Mary's consummation.
That, in a nutshell, is but a glimpse into the utter domestic lunacy and erotic jest that is THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. Adapted from the Philipa Gregory novel by Peter Morgan and directed by Justin Chadwick, this saga of seduction and familial jousting for the affections of King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) unfolds like a production from the History Channel via "Melrose Place." Yes, the catfighting between the two alluring starlets is a tainted pleasure ("Do you feel as awful as you look?" Anne taunts her sister turned competitor at one point), but as historical import the film is as weighty as a celebrity gossip magazine, as if the heady, decadent world of the Tudors gave birth to tabloid tittle tattle and was robbed of media coverage by Star Magazine. Accordingly, the film's production values, like its principal stars, are cause to marvel, but betrayed by a ridiculously sensationalized storyline that succeeds at camp far more than intense drama. Ergo, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL should be a big hit.
"To get ahead in this world," Thomas Boleyn (Mark Rylance) mournfully states, "you need more than fair looks and a kind heart." Fair looks? Anne and Mary, as embodied by Portman and Johansson, have that in magnificent spades. Kind heart? There's more mischief in Anne's, but Mary initially qualifies. Unfortunately, the Boleyn patriarch has utter weakness in his, and somehow lets his brother in law, the Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey, glowering like one stung by horrific reviews of "Basic Instinct 2"), actually talk him into pimping his daughters for Henry's sexual fulfillment. At what cost, dignity? The spoils the Boleyns stand to gain include title and fortune; Thomas the Tame accepts.
"There is a strain in the king's marriage," Norfolk explains to Anne, who is dutiful and saucy to a fault. Until betrayed! With Katherine of Aragon (Ana Torrent) unable to bear Henry a male heir (A flaw--FLAW!--Anne will experience with tragic consequences), Henry is invited to the Boleyn estate with the sole purpose of gaining a mistress. "Will you accept the challenge?" Norfolk beckons Anne, as if the whole sordid history of Anne Boleyn and the court of Henry VIII was co-opted by "Project Runway." After a hunting accident puts the kibosh on Henry's attraction to Anne, Norfolk intercedes and pushes Mary as an erotic peace offering, with Thomas Boleyn and, astonishingly Mary's husband, not putting up much of a fuss. This gross defiling of logic will certainly not be lost on most serious viewers who should at this point tune out of THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL, leaving a healthy dose of laughter to be mined at the sad expense of the principal characters. But really, how else were they to turn one sister so hellbent against the other?
The actors do the most they can with this facade to elementary reason. Portman especially relishes in letting her hair down and playing the bad seed. This is Amidala, the saintliest of screen saints, getting in touch with her inner ho and the actress doesn't disappoint. "It's a long journey from bended knee to the altar," Anne quips at one point, a comment bristling with the kind of innuendo that would make Jane Austen throw up. To Portman's credit, her take on Miss Boleyn is filled with enough conniving and inner circle backstabbing to make even Michael Corleone envious. The one drawback of course (And it's a big drawback) is that the fate of this Boleyn portrayal will leave most viewers applauding the comeuppance of the millennium, when they should be lamenting a victim of extreme male braggadocio. Nevertheless, Portman is a knockout.
As is Johansson, even if her Mary ultimately isn't the personification of purity one might expect (Her married name is Mary Carey, after all). But then again, next to Anne she looks like Mother Theresa. In a film filled with so much melodramatic hogwash, it's genuinely cruel how Henry rejects Mary outright at Anne's insidious whim, on the day she bears him a son, no less! Even so, there is a tacit nobility in how Mary comes to Anne's defense at the end, even if it's a crucial lie Mary imparts to Henry in the middle of the film that all but seals Anne's fate. Regardless, Johansson puts a brave, wounded face on both loyalty and harlotry, and it's a performance to savor.
The great, herculean Eric Bana unfortunately fares less well as Henry, although this is really no fault of the actor's. So much of the focus is on the duel between Anne and Mary, Bana almost gets lost as a result. "She has a power over me," Henry admits at one point in regards to Anne, trumping history and regulating himself as a total wuss. It helps little that the entire film predicates such momentous events in England's history--the dissolution of its allegiance to the Vatican, for instance--on Henry's giant urge to get laid. Even so, for such ghastly consequence over not bearing any sons, the implicit girl power resolution behind Anne giving birth to Elizabeth (The best thing that ever happened to England before the Beatles) is, the film suggests, worth the denigration Anne and Mary sunk to to insure it.
Elsewhere, it's always a pleasure to see the soft spoken Mark Rylance performing, even if his Thomas is the poorest example of a patriarch to be seen onscreen in some time. Morrissey is so one dimensionally callous as Norfolk that he ceases to be believable very quickly. The one diamond in the rough among the supporting performers is Ana Torrent, who quietly but forcefully earns the hearts of audiences as Queen Katherine. Humiliated beyond measure throughout the circus that is Henry's sexual liaisons, she stands out for maintaining a shocking level of regal composure throughout. "Where is my wise husband?" she asks Henry with heartbreaking courage at one point. "Where is he?" Watch for the scene where Katherine rips into Anne while hardly raising her voice. It's a crowd pleasing stunner, and leaves one remiss that the movie wasn't devoted solely to her. Torrent is magnificent.
For a film that rapidly regresses into giggle inducing camp, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL boasts spectacular production values. Sandy Powell is a legend at creating period costumes, and her work here is no less exemplary. Kieran McGuigan's stunning cinematography memorably evokes the sinister power games afoot in Henry's absurd court. Screenwriter Morgan, of "The Queen" fame, packs his script with barbed, classic zingers that walk the line between force and farce. "You know I love him," Mary plies Anne at one point. "Well perhaps you should stop!" Anne retorts. Director Chadwick has problems maintaining tone (Which is an understatement), but with a sharper script has the talent to perhaps one day direct a masterpiece. Regrettably, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL isn't it. He has taken formidable actors and the juiciest of storylines and reduced it to the level of salacious scandal for scandal's sake. THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL is entertaining, paints misguided ambition in an alarming light, but hardly approaches anything memorable.
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Plot
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