The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl: I read the book not long ago and, as is my habit, had to see the movie. I love costume dramas anyway, so I figured even if it wasn’t very true to the book, I’d still enjoy it. My husband, who had not read the book, said it was a decent film on its own, even if it did suffer from the all-too-common “crap we need to end this now” rush to cram half the story into the last half hour. I, however, I was too busy being confused to form an opinion. The first part of the film covers several events that occur before the beginning of the book, such as Mary’s wedding and Anne’s departure for France. There are also a number of introductions between characters who, in the book, have known each other for years. Why were these things added while the real meat of the story – Anne’s entire relationship with Henry – flies by at breakneck speed? Anyway, I suppose I might recommend this film to people who haven’t read the book. I’m not a good one to judge from that point of view. I don’t expect a film to be exactly how I imagined the book, mind you.  I can usually separate the two in my mind, but this time around I simply could not. The changes just didn’t make any sense to me.

  1. Having not read the book, I did enjoy the movie. I did feel that they did a mad rush to the ending during the last 1/4 of the film, though. They could have paced the film better but I suppose they may have felt that the meat of the story was more about Henry producing an heir to the throne.

  2. I hated this movie. I think I hated it because I enjoyed both the book and the real story. The movie just felt false and hurried. I’ve been (slowly) making my way through The Tudors and have enjoyed the series a lot. I guess it’s hard to condense all the insanity into one, 2-hour movie.

    • That’s twice in one day I’ve had The Tudors recommended to me. I guess I should add it to my Netflix queue.

      I was too baffled to hate this film. The changes just didn’t make any sense at all. The casting was a mistake too. Natalie Portman is too weak an actress to play such a strong character as Anne. Scarlet Johanssen was okay, but I wish she would learn how to close her mouth. And it didn’t help that they completely changed most of the female characters to reflect more modern sensitivities – their mother in particular bothered me, since she’s so much stronger (and scarier) in the book.

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