The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

The history may have been narratively scrunched, but it's all the true lives of some powerful and unfortunate people. Very lush.

Portman confere peso dramático à Ana Bolena, mas Johansson e Bana parecem seguir no piloto automático. Além disso, as liberdades históricas tomadas pelo roteiro são absurdas demais para poderem ser ignoradas.

The falling blade is the only element not missing the mark in this film. I wanted to call for the beheading after Act One, and spare the audience instead.

The film gets a full 'This is a work of fiction' disclaimer, even noting that any resemblance to any person living or dead is unintentional. That tells you something about how much trust to put in these historical CliffsNotes.

An all in the dysfunctional family royal romp with incestuous tendencies, this richly textured, dramatically disciplined, erotically laced and emotionally taut creation makes for weirdly kinky historical analysis, but pretty steamy pre-tabloid melodrama.

If only there was some nobility among these royals.

In an earlier era this would have starred Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins and in its way, The Other Boleyn Girl is just as trashy and enjoyable.

If the late Aaron Spelling had lived long enough to produce Showtime's The Tudors, the result might have been something like The Other Boleyn Girl...

With plenty of betrayal, attempted incest and beheadings crammed into this period episode of The Young and the Restless, The Other Boleyn Sister has appeal in an otherwise stiff genre.

Such unwieldy mechanisms only draw attention to the movie's narrative contrivances.