Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

"A sexy, good-looking political bodice-ripper with an almost flawless cast at the top of its game.  Derek Elley, Variety
"A wonderful, dramatic and powerful saga of the dangers of absolute power. The cast is impeccable...  Jeffrey Lyons, NBC's Reel Talk
"An enjoyable movie with an entertaining angle on a hard-to-resist period of history.  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"A classy romantic cocktail distinguished by its tart yet breezy bite.  Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"A tale of intrigue, ambition and betrayal.  Rex Reed, New York Observer
"The film looks terrific, all Vermeer-style light/dark interplay and sleek design. And Portman is fantastic as the tempestuous Anne.  Tasha Robinson, The Onion A.V. Club
"An absorbing, exciting costume drama that works as a historical romance, a family tragedy and a showcase for its young stars.  William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Editor's Note Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson star as Anne and Mary Boleyn in this adaptation of the bestselling novel by Philippa Gregory. While their story is perhaps one of history's most well known, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL has fun with the facts, creating a lusty, dramatic tale of deception and betrayal. The film begins with the girls' power-hungry uncle (David Morrissey), discovering that King Henry VIII's (Eric Bana) marriage to Catherine of Aragon (Ana Torrent) is falling apart. Their uncle suggests to their father (Mark Rylance) that he tempt the King into taking Anne (Portman) as his mistress, thus putting the family in the King's favor. But the King has no time for the strong-willed Anne, and instead turns his attentions to her already married, soft-spoken sister Mary. With her eye on the Queen's crown, Anne renews her attempts to seduce the king, driving a wedge between her and her sister. Bana is a brooding, sexy Henry, and Portman and Johansson both give strong performances as the beautiful and bewitching sisters. While some might quibble over the historical inaccuracies of the film (of which there are quite a few), most will let themselves get lost in the sea of beautiful bodices, and the anticipation of when those bodices might be ripped...

	David Morrissey
	Eric Bana
	Jim Sturgess
	Kristin Scott Thomas
	Mark Rylance
	Natalie Portman
	Oliver Coleman
	Scarlett Johansson
	Carol Littleton - Editor
	David Allday, et. al. - Art Director
	John Paul Kelly - Production Designer
	Justin Chadwick - Director
	Kieran McGuigan - Cinematographer
	Paul Cantelon - Original Music By
	Paul Knight - Editor
	Peter Morgan - Screenplay
	Philippa Gregory - Based On Novel By
	Scott Rudin, et. al. - Producer

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "Portman draws the eye with a barnstorming turn....[With a] rich visual palette and dynamic camerawork..." 04/01/2008 p.56

Entertainment Weekly
"THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL offers the pleasures you want....The actors playing the scheming Boleyns flex their eyebrows on dastardly cue....[C]risply enjoyable..." 03/07/2008 p.68

Rolling Stone
"What works is the combustible teaming of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson....In Portman's dynamic performance you can see strength and vulnerability warring for Anne's soul." 03/20/2008 p.68

Empire
3 stars out of 5 -- "Portman and Johansson conjure admirable performances....The stages upon which they play are all sumptuously framed and shot..." 04/01/2008 p.50

Sight and Sound
"Natalie Portman rises to the challenge of Anne Boleyn with relish, dark eyes flashing as she revels in her own wit and erotic appeal....[The film has] enough style and originality to keep it absorbing." 04/01/2008 p.71

ReelViews 8 of 10
The Other Boleyn Girl, based on the novel by Philippa Gregory, comes from BBC Films, which has a long and respected reputation for this sort of motion picture. The director is Justin Chadwick, whose previous credits include helming the critically acclaimed Bleak House for the BBC. So what's the compromise? For this very English tale, none of the three leads is English. To maximize appeal, the cast is highlighted by Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Eric Bana. Fortunately, though none of the trio is British, they are capable actors, so the story does not suffer. The result is an entertainingly sudsy trip through early 16th century English history...With its fast pace, expensive looking production values, and deeper focus on the people inside the costumes than on the costumes themselves, this movie is designed more for a modern audience than for those who watched a first-run of the BBC's 1970 TV mini-series, The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Anyone with a preference for politics looking for a more in-depth examination of Henry's repudiation of the Pope will find it in A Man for All Seasons (with Robert Shaw as Henry VIII and Vanessa Redgrave as Anne Boleyn). But those interested in the romance and tragedy associated with loving an inconstant king will find that and more in The Other Boleyn Girl. - James Berardinelli

Rolling Stone 7 of 10
Guys may assume the film version of Philippa Gregory's chick-lit bestseller about two Boleyn sisters who bed Henry VIII as a way to secure the fortune of their pimp family is a form of dude torture. They're wrong. And not because first-time director Justin Chadwick does a consummate job of bringing Peter Morgan's script to cinematic life -- he doesn't. The film moves in frustrating herks and jerks. What works is the combustible teaming of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, who give the Boleyn hotties a tough core of intelligence and wit, swinging the film's sixteenth-century protofeminist issues handily into this one...Johansson plays it subtle-sultry as Mary, who bears Henry (Eric Bana) two bastard children but can't get him to divorce his wife. It's Portman's more calculating Anne who pulls off that trick but who fails in the son-producing department. After one miscarriage, she enlists her brother (Jim Sturgess) for stud service to fool the king. The facts of these relationships are largely unknown, so the movie plays fast and loose with them. Anne did indeed lose her head on the chopping block after a thousand days as queen. And in Portman's dynamic performance you can see strength and vulnerability warring for Anne's soul. In this bedroom view of history, it's that image that sticks. - Peter Travers