Film Reviews

The Other Boleyn Girl

• Rating:
• Director: Justin Chadwick
• Starring: Eric Bana
• Details: UK / US / 115mins (15A).

If they're going to make a period drama starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman, knowing that girlfriends everywhere are going to drag their protesting boyfriends along, the least they can throw the lads is a few shots of heaving bosoms. Unfortunately, there's neither a heave nor a bosom to be had here. The ladies, too, might be disappointed as shots of Eric Bana's torso are few and far between. Still, though, The Other Boleyn Girl can be an engaging drama when it wants to be. Re-writing history a tad, the plot sees Henry VIII (Bana) try to wiggle out of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon (Ana Torrent) when she doesn't provide him with a male heir - so he sets his sights on Mary Boleyn (Johansson), younger sister to the feisty Anne (Portman). Arranged by their father (Mark Rylance) and their Svengali-type uncle The Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey), Mary is brought to London to 'beguile' Henry, give him an heir and cement her family's future in the royal court. This plan is frowned upon by Mary's husband (Oliver Coleman, looking more like Henry VIII than Bana), her mother (Scott Thomas) and Anne, who wants Henry for herself. Mary does provide a son, but she is soon cast aside when Anne 'bewitches' Henry. Period dramas are usually stolid, slow-moving affairs but Bleak House director Chadwick moves things along quite nicely, even though his TV background prevents the opening half from becoming the film it wants to be. Chadwick, however, grows in confidence, and as the film goes on he lets go, branches out and uses the camera more freely, while the story, once tightly constrained, redeems itself once Chadwick does. In a plot with no one to root for, it's Portman who shines, showing a power and screen presence not seen before.

Review by Gavin Burke