Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Juana
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Justina
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
katiexx-71489
After finishing the book yesterday, I'm so disappointed with the film. I feel it was rushed and missed out lots of important parts of the book. Most people say films are nothing like the book and in this case I seriously have to agree
Freedom060286
The screen writing for The Other Boleyn Girl was disappointing. It was historically inaccurate and quite different from the book by Philippa Gregory. However, there are some exemplary performances from Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana (although he looks nothing like red-haired Henry VIII), Jim Sturgess, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne, Ana Torrent and Kristin Scott Thomas. An exception is Natalie Portman, who has excelled in other roles, but she was not really the right person to play Anne Boleyn.The cinematography is superb and the costumes are splendid.It would have been better if they'd left out the incest scene. Most historians agree that the accusation of incest against Anne Boleyn was false, it was nothing more than a convenient way for Henry VIII to get rid of her.
SnoopyStyle
Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) is the older sister embodying the hopes of her family. Mary (Scarlett Johansson) is the other sister and her good heart is not seen as being useful. With no male heir, King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) is frustrated with his marriage to Catherine of Aragon after a stillborn male baby. The Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey) sees a way to introduce his niece as a mistress to the king. Sir Thomas Boleyn (Mark Rylance) and Norfolk's sister Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (Kristin Scott Thomas) offer the more outgoing unmarried Anne. Instead, the king is taken with the shy Mary who recently married William Carey (Benedict Cumberbatch) hoping for a quiet life. Mary is ordered to be the king's mistress and one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting. The family joins her in court as they gain in prestige. Anne secretly marries nobleman Henry Percy and tells her brother George (Jim Sturgess). George tells Mary who then tells her parents fearing a scandal over Percy who is engaged to another arranged by the king. Anne is exiled to the French court. She would return to take the king from Mary. She would give birth to future queen Elizabeth. Mary is widowed and remarries William Stafford (Eddie Redmayne). Ambitious courtesan Jane Parker (Juno Temple) marries George and would cause a great royal scandal.Anne seems to be written as the flamboyant sister while Mary is the shy one. Portman is older than Johansson and that does fit the Boleyn sisters. However, I think Johansson and Portman are more fit in personality to switch their roles. It's pushing through a lot of plot and the material may be better for a TV series. The actors are capable and the story is fascinating. The execution is a little flat but still very watchable as a vast costume soap opera.
Prismark10
The Other Boleyn Girl is an adaptation of a historical fiction novel by Philippa Gregory. It was previously made as a BBC mini series and several years later BBC films co-produced the condensed film version.Looking at it now its an all star cast with Oscar nominees Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne is small but important roles, Andrew Garfield credited although its blink and you miss him and Oscar winner Natalie Portman plays Anne Boleyn and Scarlett Johansson plays her younger sister Mary Boleyn.The film is not meant to be historically accurate given that the source material is a fictional historical. In that sense it ties Henry VIII need to father a male heir with the Boleyn Family trying to engineer their rise in social status, riches and political power by using the Boleyn girls hooked up with Henry.The film also deals with rivalry as Mary first becomes Henry's mistress and gives birth to an illegitimate son and then Anne pledges herself to Henry but only if he first divorces his wife and also send Mary and her child away.Of course as Anne could not give birth to a son causes friction and for her Henry's wrath which results in the two sisters bonding again as the Boleyn family are put to peril.They say life in olden times was short, nasty and brutish. It seems to be no different even if you are in the inner circle of the Royal family particularly the Tudor court. This is a quick romp through a period in Henry VIII's life with enough intrigue, plotting that is doomed to failure.The film is carried by its actresses both Porter and Johansson are very good and Kristin Scott Thomas as the mother is excellent as the one who realises that her daughters are at risk from this foolhardy plan.
