The Other Boleyn Girl

I got to do something I rarely get to do, last night - go to a grownup movie. Just choosing a movie without worrying whether or not it's appropriate for kids is a rare treat.

I have always been fascinated by history, so the Other Boleyn Girl appealed to me. The story focuses as much on Mary Boleyn as it does on her sister Ann Boleyn.  Just this morning I found this , which explains the actual history. Hollywood always has to simplify stories. For instance, the website says Mary didn't visit Ann when she was imprisoned in the tower before her execution. In the film it shows a tearful reunion, and even shows Mary attending her sister's beheading.

When I was in about 6th grade I developed a fascination for Henry VIII and his 6 wives, and read everything I could find about them. The subject is quite fascinating. Since I was raised Episcopalian, it was doubly fascinating, since Henry started the Church of England.

This film, The Other Boleyn Girl , was a big disappointment.

However, there was one thing I liked - the attention to period detail. The costumes were magnificent. The settings, furniture, jewelry - everything was amazing. I have been to Hampton Court, Henry's home, and the film is very authentic in its setting. One period detail they missed was that Henry VIII had red hair and blue eyes. Eric Bana, the actor who played him, has dark hair and eyes. So I never thought of him as king.

The disappointment was mainly that the film was so simplistic. It didn't show the intelligence and wit and subtlety of the time. The English Court was an amazing hive of intellectual activity. The film simply showed some of the intrigue and manipulation - fascinating, but not enough to be convincing. This should have been a meaty movie - instead, it was more like an appetizer pretending to be a main dish.

The director seemed to want to only do closeups. I don't care about seeing every pore on Scarlet Johanson or Natalie Portman's faces. Ick.

The performances by Kristin Scott Thomas as Ann and Mary's mother was excellent. I haven't seen her in anything lately, so it was nice to see her again onscreen. She was excellent. I just wish she had been onscreen more. Ana Torrent, an actress I'd never heard of, played Katharine of Aragon, and she was also remarkable. I'd like to have seen more of her.

Henry was a notorious womanizer, and there are plenty of bedroom shenanigans here. In fact, it's sort of a Desperate Housewives version of English History.

Don't see this. Rent Ann of a Thousand Days, or either one of the Cate Blanchett films about Elizabeth. Those are far better.