Passion, Power, Revenge and Blood
‘Other Boleyn Girl’ takes the crossroads of Britain history as background and depicts the tragedy of a family trying to get involved in the court of Henry VIII. As the male members of the Boleyn family are stimulated by a greed for power, the Boleyn women are propelled towards notoriety and damnation.
“You think you know the story but you only know the end. To get to the heart of the story, you have to go to the beginning.”
The popular TV series of last season, ‘The Tudors’ started with these lines. Indeed, in order to better read today
’s Britain, one should go back and understand the reign of Henry VIII, which holds a special place in the history of Britain.Tudor Dynasty stayed in power from 1485 to 1603. They came to power with the glorified victory of Henry VII over Richard III, which put an end to the War of Roses. The son of Henry VII – later to be crowned as Henry VIII, married his elder brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon, aunt to the King of Spain.
Perhaps the biggest ambition of Henry in life was to have an heir to his throne, who will continue his blood and take over his kingdom. Unluckily, Catherine could give Henry only one child – a daughter, who is to be remembered in history as the Bloody Mary. Many other babies of Catherine and Henry arrived stillborn. Henry, at this point, would sleep with other women hoping to produce an heir. In the larger picture, we had a Europe in the 1500s tainted by wars between Portugal, Spain, and France.
Justin Chadwick’s first feature-length film, ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, takes this picture as background and focuses on the ambivalent relationship between two sisters - Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson). The film’s narration mainly grounds of Anne’s perspective, as the title suggests, but it fails to position itself accurately, and therefore cannot establish a balance between what is told and untold.
The story evolves around the plans to get Anne into the King’s bed – a relationship which would get Thomas Boleyn (the father), and Thomas Howard (the uncle) a place in the court and some authority.
Although Anne is initially given the task to charm the King during his visit to their estate, she unexpectedly fails to attract the King’s attention. Moreover, she causes an accident during a hunting ride, as a result of which the King returns home wounded. To everyone’s surprise, the King is enchanted by Mary, the younger sister, who is sent to the King’s room to take care of him. The dilemma is that Mary is a newly-wed. However, her fresh marriage could hardly be an obstacle on the way to the court, now open wide for her father, uncle, and husband. From now on the sisters’ relationship will get tainted by the rivalry for the court, and above all, for King.
There is a huge amount of literature – novels, plays, films, etc. – inspired from this period of Britain’s history marked by love, revenge, passion, and blood. Some of them depicted Henry VIII as a womaniser, some as a pitiful creature lacking self-confidence; some as a reputation-driven King afraid of being overshadowed by the accomplishments of his father... ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, however, apparently focuses more on the tragedy of the Boleyn family rather than Henry himself.
‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, however, features a rich number of characters, immensely varied, as they are driven by various interests. Mistress Boleyn, the mother, for instance, fails – or not even tries(?) – to restrain her husband’s greed for power. Thomas Boleyn, the father, on the other hand, forces his daughters to adultery for the sake of power. The uncle is a corrupt man enough to “use” anyone to gain his position in the court back. Anne and Mary’s brother is happy-go-lucky for his popularity, which is a result of his sisters’ adultery. And the Boleyn sisters – Mary, and Anne. The former is a young girl who is taken away from her husband’s arms and thrust to King’s bed only later to fall in love with him desparately. The latter “the other” Boleyn girl, namely Anne Boleyn, is not discouraged by her sister’s pregnancy and deep love for the King in her merciless fight to “get” him to her bed....
If you do not know already how the story ends, here it is: Henry divorces Catherine of Aragon to carve the way to Anne Boleyn’s bed. However, a devoted Catholic, Catherine does not collaborate for a divorce; instead, she tries every way to prevent this from taking place. Not surprisingly the Pope does not approve the divorce. But this hardly puts an end to Henry’s strife. Dazzling everyone, Henry goes as far as to break up from the Catholic Church and establishes the Church of England, which favours the newly rising protestant values over the Catholic ones. This rupture changes the path Britain meant to take, and a new era begins. The war is not yet over, though. Catherine’s daughter Mary tries to restore Catholicism by massacring thousands – hence, Bloody Mary. However, the golden age of Britain comes with Anne Boleyn’s daughter Elisabeth, who is crowned as Elisabeth I, who restores Anglicanism, and triggers the unimpeded rise of England as an independent kingdom.
The film is powerful with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, two talented and beautiful actresses. Although the film is a fest to the eyes with costumes and art direction, it fails to entertain the audiance with a quality plot. Yet if you find this period of British history appealing, or if you are curious about what might have come out of the duo – Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson –, we recommend you to watch ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’.
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