Review of The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) by Filipeneto — 05 Mar 2018

This film is based on the love affairs between the English King Henry VIII and his two courtesans, Mary and Anne Boleyn, the second of which would become queen, though for a short period. Directed by Justin Chadwick, was written by Peter Morgan and has the participation of Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana.

This film has its origin not on historical facts but on a historical novel by Philippa Gregory, slightly inspired by historical facts. So, this movie does not portray what really happened. An historical novel is not a history book and, unfortunately for the movie, this novel is bad, openly subverts the facts and omits some historical personalities that were crucial for this events. Basically, she almost rewrote history and Justin Chadwick obediently swallowed all the straw the book had without bothering to examine their veracity.

In fact, while this film portrays Mary Boleyn as a very serious girl, the truth is that she had a very bad reputation and maybe have had lots of lovers, in the French and English courts. As the Boleyn family machinations seem to be true, probably didn't have involved Anne because she fell in love with Henry Percy, heir to the duchy of Northumberland. Who probably also fell in love was the king, but we know that Anne rejected his advances. Thinking about it, we can almost hear Anne saying "no, no way. Only after the wedding, I am a family girl".

Returning to the film, and knowing now that the script is bad because it had a poor start (everything that is born crooked, later or never straightens), we can say that Eric Bana disappointed in the role of the English king: besides he not seem very inspired or comfortable with his character, Bana starred in a stupid violation scene. Henry VIII was a famous gentleman, a seducer, he didn't need to humiliate himself violating a girl, no matter what. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson look good in the roles of the Boleyn girls and, judging by the portraits, they must be very similar to what the real girls were.

The most interesting thins in this film are the sets, the costumes and the visual effects. The scenarios are many, usually English cathedrals and palaces from that time. The costumes have been carefully designed to portray the historical period faithfully, radically contrasting with the script.