“The Other Boleyn Girl” wants to be a tragedy of royal ambition, and mostly succeeds, but only because the actors are better than the script deserves. Justin Chadwick directs a lavish period piece about two sisters competing for Henry VIII’s affections, and the film’s sumptuous production values occasionally mask a story that doesn’t know what it wants to be.
Trailer, via julianthorne.
Anne Boleyn’s Ambition
Natalie Portman plays Anne Boleyn, the ambitious younger sister who plots her way into Henry’s bed, while Scarlett Johansson plays Mary Boleyn, the elder sister whose quiet beauty makes her the actual object of the king’s desire. The film’s tagline promises “two sisters divided for the love of a king,” but the story spends far more time on the sisters’ resentment of each other than on Henry’s passion.
Portman brings a sharp intelligence to Anne, a woman who knows exactly what she’s doing and why she’s doing it. Her performance is the film’s strongest asset. Johansson, meanwhile, plays Mary as a passive observer of her own fate, which is less a character choice than a narrative failing. The film never quite explains why Mary lets her family manipulate her into becoming Henry’s mistress, or why she stays silent about Anne’s secret marriage to Henry Percy.
Henry’s Passion
Eric Bana plays Henry VIII as a man driven by passion and greed, and he commits fully to the role. His Henry is not the towering figure of history but a spoiled boy grown into a king, and Bana sells that petulance with a sneer that’s both charming and chilling. The film’s script, written by Peter Morgan and adapted from Philippa Gregory’s novel, treats Henry as a pawn of circumstance rather than a force of history, and Bana’s performance lifts the material beyond its limitations.
The problem is that the script doesn’t give Henry enough to do. He seduces, he demands, he broods, but he rarely acts. The film’s central tension should be the struggle between Anne and Mary for Henry’s attention, but the story keeps pulling back from that conflict to focus on the machinations of the Boleyn family and their allies.
The Boleyn Family Machine
Mark Rylance plays Sir Thomas Boleyn, the patriarch who pushes his daughters into the king’s bed for family advancement, and Kristin Scott Thomas plays Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, his wife and the mother of the two sisters. Both actors bring a cold calculation to their roles, but the film never quite explains why they’re willing to sacrifice their daughters in this way. The family’s ambition is a given, not a question, and that assumption weakens the emotional stakes of the story.
Jim Sturgess plays George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, the brother who loves Anne most and supports her rebellion against the court’s expectations. His unhappiness in his arranged marriage to Jane Parker, played by Eddie Redmayne, provides some of the film’s few tender moments, but the subplot is rushed and underdeveloped.
Historical Fiction
“The Other Boleyn Girl” is a historical fiction, and it takes considerable liberties with the facts. The film presents Anne as Henry’s second wife, which is a simplification of the actual sequence of his marriages. The film also suggests that Anne was a woman of ambition and calculation, which is consistent with historical accounts. These aren’t fatal flaws on their own, but they do raise questions about how seriously the film wants to be taken.
The film’s version of events is a simplified, romanticized version of a complex historical moment. It reduces the Reformation to a love triangle and the fall of the Boleyn family to a personal feud. That’s a shame, because the real history of the period is far more interesting than the film’s melodrama.
The Romance and the Betrayal
The film’s central conflict is supposed to be the competition between Anne and Mary for Henry’s love, but the story keeps undercutting that tension. The film keeps pulling back from the central struggle to focus on the Boleyn family’s schemes. The result is a story that feels unfinished, as if the film abandoned its own premise halfway through.
The film also struggles with its tone. It wants to be a tragic romance, but it keeps slipping into melodrama. The betrayal of Anne’s marriage to Percy is meant to be shocking, but the film’s handling of it is so casual that it barely registers. Similarly, the film’s depiction of the fall of the Boleyn family is so sanitized that it reads more as a plot point than a human tragedy.
The Craft
On a purely technical level, “The Other Boleyn Girl” is a visually stunning film. The costumes are rich, the sets are grand, and the cinematography captures the opulence of the Tudor court. The music is sweeping and romantic, though it sometimes overstates the emotion on screen.
The production design is particularly strong. The film recreates the courts of Henry VIII with a richness that transports the viewer to a different era. The colors are bold, the fabrics are luxurious, and the architecture is imposing. This is a film that looks expensive, even when the story underneath isn’t holding together.
The Final Score
“The Other Boleyn Girl” is a film with a strong cast and a weak script. It’s a story that should be compelling, but the material keeps getting in its own way. The film is best when it focuses on Portman’s Anne, and worst when it tries to be a tragedy of royal ambition.
The film’s runtime is 116 minutes, and it’s a long 116 minutes. The pacing is slow, and the middle section drags as the story circles around itself. The ending, which shows Anne’s rise to power and Mary’s decline, is rushed and unsatisfying.
| Element | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| Cast | Portman and Bana deliver strong performances | Johansson’s Mary lacks agency |
| Direction | Chadwick directs with visual flair | The script is thin and repetitive |
| Production | Rich costumes and sets | The story is simplified and sanitized |
| Music | Sweeping and romantic | Sometimes overstates the emotion |
What Works
- Portman’s Anne is the film’s standout performance, a woman who is ambitious, calculating, and remorseful in equal measure.
- Bana’s Henry is a compelling portrait of a spoiled king.
- The production design is rich and detailed, capturing the grandeur of the Tudor court.
What Doesn’t Work
- Johansson’s Mary is underwritten and underdeveloped.
- The film’s historical liberties are not always explained or justified.
- The story’s central conflict is undercut by its own pacing and structure.
“The Other Boleyn Girl” is a film that is worth seeing for Portman’s performance alone, but it’s a film that frustrates more than it satisfies. It’s a story that could have been a tragedy of royal ambition, but it settles for a romance of royal manipulation.
The film’s tagline promises two sisters divided for the love of a king, but the film never quite delivers on that promise. It’s a story that is too clever by half, and it’s a shame, because the real history of the Boleyns is far more interesting than this film’s version of it.
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