The Other Boleyn Girl

Contrary to what the other reviewer here states, this was not meant to be a sweeping vision of history. It was clearly meant as a chamber piece - a chick flick of dark proportions.

While this production does not begin to embrace the scope of Anne's criminal nature, or the greater national ramifications that became of her union with Henry VIII, it doesn't aim to. What it does do, however, is paint a poignant portrait of what it was to be a woman in the 16th century, and how ruthless those days in court were.

I'm a fan of the novel this is based on and am hugely thrilled by this adaptation. It is bold and striking and the lead performance by Jodhi May is one of the most compelling I have ever seen anywhere. It should certainly act as her calling card to producers everywhere that she is more than ready to make the transition from ingenue to adult role. By this performance, I'd say she made the leap long ago.

Jared Harris turns in a dead on performance as the Tudor king who became a tyrant and not the least bit because of his union with Anne Boleyn. The rest in the cast paled in comparison to these two, but that does not mean they turned in poor performances. To the contrary, this was a top notch production I wish greater American audiences could see.

The only glitch for me was toward the end when there is video footage of modern day England, tourists at the Tower of London. I don't get it. But I can forgive one small moment in light of the greater ambition and success of this project.

Period drama should always be so delicious!

The first version of this story and not bad atall. Mary Boleyn, who was the first sister to catch King Henry VIII's eye and, well, other parts, was the pretty sister. She was married but her father pimped her out demanding she sleep with the king. Once he'd had his way Henry looked elsewhere, all while still married to his loving wife of many years, Catherine of Aragon. Little sister Anne sees all and doesn't let the King have his way with her so easily. I think this is actually better than the later Hollywood-made version, even if this one is a TV movie.

I have mixed feelings about this film. I appreciated the use of color, it represents the harshness of the time. It's a nice change to see a period piece that's not glamorous. I can imagine it's tempting to make the good looking cast even better looking. The confessions in the camera I didn't understand. I do understand it was an

attempt to make it more intimate. But I don't think it workout that well here. I consider it to modern. It works in comedy like 'the private life of Samuel Pepys'. There it was brilliant. Maybe they could've used a confession setting for these scene's instead of putting them into a room speaking to the camera. And used

more close-ups instead of medium shots. That would make it more intimate and

dramatic.

The acting is superb! I enjoyed to see Jodhi May paying a wicked woman for a

change. She portrayed Anne Boleyn very good Her sick and cruel pleasure to

torture her family by for example trying to marry of her sister to a fat ugly man. Her frightening ambition and abuse of power is portrayed brilliantly.

The actor who played Henry and the actress who played Mary were also

brilliant. The rest of the cast were very complementary to the leading ladies and man.

Very good.

This is not a story about one person. It's about relations between people. This movie explains why Mary survived.

This is really a film worth wile seeing. But don't expect to see a conventional historical epic.

Voted 8

• A-M ---- English is not my first language so please excuse my spelling and grammar

errors

An extraordinary tale of sex, passion and royal intrigue, this is the little-known story of Mary Boleyn, who was mistress to King Henry VIII before he married her sister, Anne. Set during one of the most notorious periods in British regal history, at its heart is the relationship between two rivals - the Boleyn sisters. Starring Jodhi May, Natascha McElhone, Jared Harris and Steven Mackintosh.

If you want superb acting quality together with historical accuracy, this is the one to see.

If you prefer an over-rated, second-class, Americanized remake then go for the Hollywood fluff version. This one will be over your head.

Plainly made for TV, this austere earlier version of Philippa Gregory's revisionist 2001 novel flaunts its small screen origins with swaying camerawork in drab, grainy colours like a Ken Loach docudrama of the 1970s.

Although apparently no more accurate a picture of life at the court of Henry VIII - when he was still relatively young and dashing - than the other bawdy or Technicolored romps that preceded it, it still paints an appropriately harsh and claustrophobic picture of life as it probably really was in sixteenth century England.