Movie review: The Other Boleyn Girl
| IMDB
Two sisters divided for the love of a king
The Other Boleyn Girl is based on the historical fiction novel by the same name, written by Philippa Gregory. It is on of my favourite books, and is the book that got me into historical fiction to begin with, and helped spark my interest for history as an academic subject as well, so you can imagine I had high hopes and expectations for this movie.
Were they fulfilled? Eh. Not so much. I would really like this movie to be amazing, but as hard as I wish it, it doesn’t really reach the heights it could have. I can’t really pinpoint what it is that does it either - the different parts of the movie are all well done, but it is somehow the way they all fit together that isn’t quite right. The acting is good, I especially enjoyed Scarlett Johansson’s performance, and Natalie Portman does a good figure as Anne, but at times I almost wished their roles had been reversed.
The scenery is stunning, as it should be, and feels very authentic (not that I am that well versed in the Tudor era settings, but still), as do the costumes. Wow, the costumes. It’s a little sad that no one wears dressed like that anymore (except the ren faire people, but they strike me as a little odd anyway), although good for those of us who wouldn’t be able to afford a maid to help dress us in the morning. Also, I keep thinking about how awkward it must have been to use the toilet in that getup - my mom had to help me hold up my wedding dress when I inevitably had to pee during the wedding party. But maybe they had maids for that too, who knows (maybe I have the subject for my master’s thesis here? “Toilet habits of the Tudor era - when England’s number one had to go number two”. Maybe not.).
“Do you feel as awful as you look? You know, in France, no woman would allow herself to get in such a state.” -Anne Boleyn
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