Natalie Portman Movie:

		List Price: $38.96		Label: Sony Pictures Salesrank: 8271 Released: June 10, 2008
		Our Price: $9.39
		Used Price: $6.15
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: Blu-ray

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 [Blu-ray]:
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 DVD

The Soundtrack

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

The Other Boleyn Girl [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Missing Something...
2009-12-11 - I absolutely loved this movie, however there were scenes missing. I first saw this movie on TV. It was more than 2 hours long. Then when I purchased the DVD it was a lot shorter. I was really disappointed. I don't undersand why there is no option to view or purchase the movie with all the scenes included. These missing scenes were not part of the bonus features on the DVD either. But overall I enjoyed the film.

Great Henry VIII Movie!
2009-12-09 - I bought The Other Boleyn Girl for my daughter for Xmas. We both saw it in the theater and both loved this movie. At a great price and as usual delivered promptly. Great movie to pop in and watch again & again on a rainy or boring day! The costumes, story, love sceenes all make for a great movie to add to a collection. I watch the Tudors and think this version was just as entertaining! The actors were wonderful!!

The other Boleyn Girl can'd hold a candle to 'Anne of the Thousand Days'
2009-11-28 - For those who give high ratings to 'The Other Boleyn Girl', I can only suggest that you either rent or buy the superb 1969 film, 'Anne of the Thousand Days'. Both films basically deal with the same subject but there's really no comparison. Where 'Anne' is a complex historical recreation and magisterial drama, 'The Other Boleyn...' is a ponderous soap opera, where numerous film-goers today have been taken in by the film's lavish production values (shot in High Definition), along with the three big name Hollywood stars who can't hold a candle to predecessors such as Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold who really make you feel like you're watching flesh and blood human beings who lived in the 16th century.

I haven't read the book which the movie was based on but I question why it was necessary to tell Anne Boleyn's story through the eyes of her older sister Mary (inaccurately depicted as the younger sister here in this film). Mary's part in 'Anne of the Thousand Days' is wisely depicted as brief and her bitterness toward her father for 'pimping her out' to King Henry VIII is much more believable than Scarlett Johansson's Mary who continues to hold a soft spot for the King despite being unceremoniously dumped by him and bearing a child who was dubbed a bastard. Mary is basically depicted as a saint who we're supposed to identify with because she has a 'good heart'. Unfortunately, most saints make for boring drama and Johansson's Mary is no exception. Johansson did well in Woody Allen's well-scripted 'Vicky Christina Barcelona' but she is completely out of her element in the 16th century. Instead of a world weary traveler in the Tudor court, Johansson's Mary is more like an Amish-like simpleton whose grim and ponderous expressions suggest that she is an actor of extremely limited range. Mary has little to do in 'The Other Boleyn Girl'. Her two big scenes (the love scene with King Henry and the birth of her son) are devoid of substantial dramatic conflict.

What's worse is the suggestion that Anne and Mary were competitors for Henry's approval. In 'Anne of the Thousand Days', there was no competition between the two sisters. Mary's story was over when Anne comes on the scene. Genevieve Bujold defiantly states that she will never let the King do what he did to her sister and it takes a very long time in that film before Anne changes her mind. In The Other Boleyn Girl, Natalie Portman's Anne is a cold and calculating schemer from the beginning, inexplicably accusing her sister from taking the King from her. Later, she blames Mary for being responsible for the breakup of her secret union with Henry Percy. Ann's Uncle, the Duke of Northrop, orders that the two lovers separate. In 'Anne of the Thousand Days', the breakup is a matter of state policy. The head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Wolsey, threatens Ann's lover and they're forced to part due to the King's designs on Anne. In 'The Other Boleyn Girl', Anne's undoing is attributed to what appears to be something like a bi-polar episode. After Henry rejects her because she can't bear a male heir, she becomes unhinged and ends up slapping him. In 'Anne of the Thousand Days', Anne is both the victim of Henry's cruelty and her own ambition to see her daughter declared the first in succession to the English throne.

Screenwriter Peter Morgan's view of Henry VIII is way off the mark. Thanks to Morgan's superficial portrait, Eric Bana, turns Henry into a GQ model rather than the petty but complex Henry of history. For those who are offended that I dare suggest that Bana isn't right for the part, I strongly urge you to watch Richard Burton in 'Anne of the Thousand Days'; afterward, come back and tell me with a straight face that you think Bana was right for this part. What's missing in 'The Other Boleyn Girl' is how Henry relates to members of his Court. Who are his friends and confidants? And of course there's the whole political intrigue of the court which is glossed over in 'The Other Boleyn Girl'. The key players, Cardinal Wolsey and the King's adviser, the deadly Thomas Cromwell, are missing. In 'Anne of the Thousand Days', there are a myriad of characters interacting with the King and as a result of these interactions, a full portrait of Henry's personality comes through. Here, Bana's Henry is dull and witless. What's more, Morgan's view of Henry and Anne's relationship has no real grace or drama. The best Morgan can come up with is a crude rape scene which reduces Henry to a comic book villain.

'The Other Boleyn Girl' is not without a few good points. Ana Torrent is brilliant as Katherine of Aragon, depicting the quiet dignity of a woman terribly wronged. David Morrissey is credible as the steely social-climbing uncle who holds the strings in the family. Kristin Scott Thomas as the Boleyn mother acquits herself well but she's a bit too much of a feminist icon for 16 century England. Mark Rylance was much too ineffectual as Sir Thomas Boleyn but he looks very good as a 16th century nobleman.

Production-wise, 'The Other Boleyn...' is filmed in sumptuous high definition and the scenes in the English countryside are a pleasure to watch. The camera work is for the most part pretty good with first-time director Justin Chardwick shooting scenes from a multiplicity of angles.

In the end, 'The Other Boleyn Girl' is not the other Boleyn's Girl story. If you want the 'real McCoy', then you must see Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold together. They are master craftsmen and you will be truly moved by their performances. The remake connects the dots but can never hold a candle to the 1969 production. Sometimes it's best to leave things well enough alone!

"16th Century Soap Opera At Its Best!"
2009-11-23 - "The Other Bolyn Girl" was released to theatres on February 29th, 2008 and became an immediate hit grossing over $75,000,000 at the boxoffice. These were huge numbers considering the movie only cost $35,000,000 to produce. Perhaps it was the fact that television viewers, at the time, were enthralled by Showtime's "The Tudors" and movie-going audiences were inclined to watch a historical piece on King Henry VIII that made this a hit, but "The Other Bolyn Girl" could never have failed; it had all the ingredients of a hit film: stunning photography, a wonderful story that was known to its audience, and enthralling performances by its three leads. "The Other Bolyn Girl" tells the story of 16th-century aristocrats Mary and Anne, sisters, fighting over King Henry VIII. Mary would ultimately be only Henry's mistress(one of many) and Anne would become his second wife(also one of many). Both sisters were trying to better themselves and their family by getting involved with the Monarch, but both failed to realize the King was only in love with two things; his country and his unfulfilled sexual apetite. The sisters are played by Natalie Portman (Anne) and Scarlett Johansson (Mary), but it is Eric Bana, who plays King Henry, that is mesmerizing. He displays many emotions as the King of England; everything from raw sexuality (Eric is breathtaking to look at with his beard) to hatred, passion, love, desire, and vengefulness. The production values of this historical drama are first-rate with beautiful costumes and cinematography. The DVD comes with deleted and extended scenes, featurettes on the film and its historcial figures, and more. WNBC says of the film that it's , "a wonderful, dramatic and powerful saga of the dangers of absolute power. The cast is impeccable". If you enjoy "The Other Bolyn Girl" you will love TV's "The Tudors". That series' first two seasons are available on DVD.

Hated this movie
2009-11-17 - This movie played with history and the sisters motivations for doing what they did were muddy. While some of the actors were good (Scarlett Johanssen, Kristin Scott Thomas), the 2 main characters were not very believable. Hated Eric Bana as Henry VIII. He had no fire or passion and wasn't arrogant enough. And I just could not believe Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn. On the whole, skip it and watch The Tudors. Much better and in more depth rendition of same topic. Also, you could go back in time and rent/buy A Man For All Seasons if you really want to see Henry VIII (Peter O'Toole) and Thomas More (Paul Scofield) go at it.