Natalie Portman Movie:

		List Price: $14.94		Label: Sony Pictures Salesrank: 1800 Released: June 10, 2008
		Our Price: $4.69
		Used Price: $1.84
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Based on the best-selling novel, The Other Boleyn Girl is a captivating tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Eric Bana. Two sisters, Anne (Portman) and Mary (Johansson), are driven by their ambitious family to seduce the king of England (Bana) in order to advance their position in court. What starts as an opportunity for the girls to increase their family fortune becomes a deadly rivalry to capture the heart of a king to stay alive.

Description of The Other Boleyn Girl:
A tale of two sisters competing for the same king, The Other Boleyn Girl uses historical facts as window dressing for this work of fiction that is entertaining, if not wholly believable. Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) is the doe-eyed vixen ordered by her power-hungry uncle to bewitch King Henry VIII (Eric Bana). Her shy sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) has always been in Anne's shadow; Anne is prettier, more accomplished, and desired by many men. So when the King picks Mary--the "other Boleyn girl"--as his mistress, Anne turns on her sister and schemes to become not only the King's consort, but his new queen. With a pair of American actresses in the lead roles and an Aussie portraying their hunky object of desire, the English accents are all over the place in this period piece with a modern feel. Though the Boleyn girls' mother points out that her "daughters are being traded like cattle for the advancement of men," it is Anne who ultimately throws her slight weight around to bully Henry into doing her bidding. When he begs her to give herself to him, Anne--wearing a Carrie Bradshaw-esque "B" pendant on her neck--counters, "Make me your Queen." Is the audience really supposed to believe that Henry the VIII--the most powerful man in the land--would divorce Catherine of Aragon, separate from the Catholic church, and put England in upheaval simply because Anne refused to sleep with him until he jumped through all her hoops? "I have torn this country apart for you," he hisses at her before finally getting his way. Based on Philippa Gregory's bestselling novel of the same name, The Other Boleyn Girl features an attractive cast and a familiar plot with some icky twists. Kieran McGuigan's cinematography is breathtaking and is as crucial to setting the film's tone as the dialogue. Actually, it fares better: Lines such as "Well? Did he have you?!" sound almost comical. But the sweeping shots of Henry's kingdom and the carefully framed close-ups of Portman and Johansson are breathtaking in their beauty and say what words simply cannot. --Jae-Ha Kim

Get to Know the Cast of The Other Boleyn Girl
(click on images to see more films from each actor)

Natalie Portman (Anne Boleyn)

Scarlett Johansson (Mary Boleyn)

Eric Bana (Henry Tudor)	Jim Sturgess (George Boleyn)	Kristin Scott Thomas (Lady Elizabeth Boleyn)

Beyond The Other Boleyn Girl

Paperback Book

On Blu-ray

The Soundtrack

Stills from The Other Boleyn Girl (click for larger image)

The Other Boleyn Girl Reviews:
Excellent exciting DVD
2009-10-16 - Enjoyed the DVD from start to exciting finish. It came on time and in condition shown.

Henry VIII, Hollywood Style
2009-09-24 - I saw this only about a week after having seen Ann of a Thousand Days so, of course, my mind was busy making comparisons. I'm not a student of English history but from what I've read here, "Ann" was much closer to actuality. It seems to me that if you're going to make a historical drama, tell the real story--otherwise why bother?

As far as casting is concerned, Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold were head and shoulders better than this group, with the exception of Kristin Scott-Thomas, who is always good. Apparently these were chosen for box office appeal. Scarlett Johannsen is a gifted "personality" (don't know if I'd really call her an actress.)
She is physically gorgeous and has a strong screen presence, which suits her very well for some roles. However here she was given the role of the shy, mousy sister--what a waste of glam-power. She played "dumb" a lot, often by looking blank and breathing through her mouth---not attractive.

Natalie Portman is very pretty and she can act a lot better than Scarlett, but neither one of them had the substance that one looks for in a drama of this sort. Let them stick to what they can do. The fellow who played Henry was certainly hunky and handsome which gave credence to the fact that both sisters fell for him so quickly-but he lacked the power and authority that made Burton so convincing in the role.

The script of Ann of a Thousand Days was much more flattering to Ann. She was shown as an innocent for most of the film and Bujold shone bright and clear in that role, which captured the sympathy of the viewer. I wept at the final scene, when she asked the executioner "if it would hurt" and declared that she had "a tiny neck." In this film, Ann was shown to be a calculating, duplicitous girl from the beginning so that I really didn't care what happened to her.

I am not always a stickler for historical accuracy but in this case I think some pretty big liberties were taken with the facts. Having Henry rape Ann was certainly a violation. Also the question of Ann and her brother having sex--did this happen or not? Was he gay? These are not minor issues--they are important to the plot and should have been shown truthfully.

If you really don't care about what really happened, then you can watch this film and enjoy the pretty people and lush costumes. Although those pretty people are prettier in other films.

Great film if taken as a work of fiction
2009-09-13 - I was a history major in college and was surprised by this storyline, or more surprised by people who believed it to be true. I haven't read the book but I took the movie as entertainment and a work of fiction and if judged by those standards you will love this beautiful, cunning tale.

Historically inaccurate and all-around terrible
2009-09-05 - Let me preface this by saying I read the novel way before the film was released. The book was all right, if relatively inaccurate about historical plot points. It is indeed a work of fiction based on people who lived, so you take the good with the bad. But the film? Half of it didn't even follow its own source material, let alone ANY of the actual history of Anne and Mary Boleyn!

Trying to cram several decades of events into two hours is challenging, but throwing away important points is the result of terrible script writing. Eric Bana is awful as Henry VIII; he captures none of the drama and power and majesty of the real man. Natalie Portman is decent as Anne Boleyn, but there is still something lacking in her performance. Scarlett Johansson was pretty much only there to be just that, pretty. The rest of the actors and actresses were relatively miss-cast as well. They seemed to be phoning in their performances.

But the worst part was the historical inaccuracies portrayed by this film. Some of the most stand-out ones being:

Mary allegedly hopping directly into bed with Henry VIII and skipping the fact that she was originally sent to the French court (where she was allegedly the mistress of the King of France for a time.) Anne had also been at the French court; she was never "banished" there. She was actually there when Mary started her affair with Henry VIII!

The "Henry VIII fell down a ravine and got hurt!" bit? Totally made up.

Mary had two children during her time at the English court. Catherine and Henry were never officially announced as Henry VIII's bastards; it was only implied later on.

Anne and Mary were never close. It is believed that Mary was actually the elder sister and Anne the youngest. It wasn't until after the affair with Mary that Henry VIII took any interest in Anne. And Henry VIII never banished Mary at Anne's wishes.

That bit where Catherine of Aragon confronted Anne and Mary? NEVER HAPPENED!

Mary married William Stafford in secret, shortly after Anne became Queen and gave birth to her daughter Elizabeth, but as soon as the secret was found out, Mary was disowned by her family and the couple was banished from court. Mary was virtually penniless and begged Thomas Cromwell to speak on her behalf to Anne and Henry VIII. None in her family would help her; Anne eventually took some pity on Mary and sent her some money but refused to receive her at court.

Mary NEVER begged Henry VIII to spare Anne's life. She never attended Anne or George's executions and never returned to court. Nor did Mary raise her niece Elizabeth. She most likely never even saw Elizabeth, as the future queen was raised at Hatfield House.

Honestly, this movie was terrible. It was almost as if the script writer wrote plot points on slips of paper and drew them out of a hat, then cobbled the script together with droll dialogue. They couldn't even get the scenery right. Why must Hollywood screw up something that's actually documented? History is far more entertaining than fiction!

If you want to watch something quality with decent attempts to be historically accurate (although with its own faults) I suggest you pick up Seasons 1 and 2 of HBO's "The Tudors". Beautifully cast, great acting, fantastic script writing, only minor inaccuracies in places. Skip "The Other Boleyn Girl" entirely!

Brutal, Brutal Power Struggles and Drama...
2009-09-02 -
I have not read the book by this same title. Nor have I watched any of the popular Tudor's series of late.

I don't know what's worse...watching a film that is beautiful in scenery, costume and acting not knowing what the outcome will be and hoping for the best, or knowing and having the impotent sense of horror as you watch it all unfold. The film starts with "Mr." Boleyn offering his girls to the highest bidder...more or less. Anne (Natalie Portman), the oldest, is requested for marriage. Her father offers her younger, equally beautiful sister Mary, (Scarlett Johansson) instead. She's the nicer of the two and more likely to be content with a mere merchant.

Father is not, he has great ambition for his children. And so the story goes.

Mary's marriage conveniently gets set aside on account of the King Henry's (Eric Bana) great need for a male heir and his wife's inability to provide one. When Mary Boleyn is pregnant, the king's eye must not wander away from the tight circle of power that is being woven around him, enter Anne.

But Anne has ambition of her own. The madness and horrible outcome unfolds in the absolute worst possible way. The history is fascinating and brutal. As ugly as American politics are today, they are nothing compared to the drama of King Henry's court.

There are sex scenes in the film. However, they are more arty that crude. One is disturbing but both partners are shown fully clothed. A couple others are shown quickly and include a naked thigh in profile. Beheadings occur off screen. There is no language warning. The lighting was sometimes a little dark. And more than one scene change made me pause to figure out what had just happened.

Definitely worth the rental in my book. But a little depressing to keep in my permanent library, but if I can find it for a decent price I might. It felt very much like Girl With a Pearl Earring and a little like Marie Antoinette. Fans of either or both would probably like Other Boleyn.