The Other Boleyn Girl

[devilgrrl]

We went to see this last night. I loved the book, so I assumed I would at least enjoy the movie. I have a special place in my heart for Tudor/Elizabethan history, so I usually try to see movies about it. Generally speaking, as long as a movie is good and entertains me, I can get over it not being 100% historically accurate. I liked both Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age and, like I said, I loved the book as entertainment.

Holy God, the movie was AWFUL. I was lost half the time, watching it, because the only thing it shared with the book was a couple characters. History, including historically important characters, were just left out. There were plot holes you could drive a 747 through. I spent most of the movie making The Face or trying to catch Steven up on what the hell was going on.

Anne wasn't in France at the beginning of the movie. Henry's fall, the one credited with making her miscarry, was put in the very beginning. The whole movie was depicted as taking place in less than 2 years. Catherine (Carey) Knowles' birth NEVER HAPPENED! There was no mention of William Carey's death from the sweat nor of her burgeoning relationship with Stafford. Anne was sent to France after screwing it up with Henry, not the country nor was Mary ever sent their with the kids. There was no mention of the Mary Boleyn.

They totally glazed over the years Anne spent making Henry, there was only a brief mention of the break with the Catholic Church and that was used as a plot device for Henry to rape Anne. Barely a mention of her coronation. No mention of her adopting Henry Carey. None of Mary's banishment from court because she was pregnant with Stafford's child. They made the whole movie The Anne Show whereas the book was told from Mary Boleyn. They had George die like a coward. They had Mary in the crowd at Anne's death and had Henry sending a note to tell her he double crossed her.

What I liked: there were geese. Jim Sturgess is charming and made the scenes he was in. Some of the costuming was nice. They did get the French style execution right. I had fun playing Spot the Star (several actors from Atonement were in it).

I didn't walk out because I kept hoping that it would get better, but I considered it strongly at the halfway point. This is the second movie I have ever considered that in. I really, truly feel like I wasted my money going to see it. I didn't expect it to be akin to a historical documentary nor did I expect it follow the book exactly, but I at least expected that I would see where it was adapted. It's really bad when I am lost watching a movie about this.

The guy who wrote this also wrote The Queen. I don't know how he managed to do well enough with that to win an Oscar and then sunk to this level, but my guess is he was very, very drunk and watching General Hospital when he wrote it.

Comments

[dolphinluv2783.livejournal.com]

Damn it! I wanted to go see this. I guess I'll just have to settle for the book.

[mermaidinblack.livejournal.com]

I expected this would be the case, based on the commercials I'd seen. Even from the commercials you could tell they totally fucked the story. I, too, am a fanatic for the book and I can't believe they totally raped the story to make a piece of shite movie. Oh well. I'd REALLY like to see the British version of "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2003) someday, wonder if they got it right...

[lassie-faire.livejournal.com]

...Dangit. It looked better in the previews....I thought I might go see it but I guess I won't bother now. I'll just read the book instead. :D That's really depressing though...

Actually, when FH and I saw the previews where Mary was like "I'm here to save my sister because she's a part of me, yada", we looked at each other and he was like "It kind of ruins it because we know she fails and her sister dies anyway..."

[wickedshadow.livejournal.com]

I went to see There Will Be Blood. Normally Daniel Day-Lewis does a good job but given the script he had this time I wonder if he was just hard up for money or if he thought it was a good role. I thought the movie sucked.

[vonlisbon.livejournal.com]

Thank you heartily for this review. I am a huge Henry VIII nerd so my boyfriend thought it would be great for us to go see this. I figured it would either be total hit or total miss.

[renfairewench.livejournal.com]

Bahhh!!! Sorry to hear that this movie sucked wind. I LURVE Tudor/Elizabethan movies, generally even when they are bad. A lot of times its the eye candy of the costuming that makes me drool, but I've seen some of the dresses in this movie and well...I just keep shaking my head and saying "what the fuck were they thinking?"
Anyway, I told Todd the other day that Mary was like 14 when she was married and not much older when she became Henry's Mistress. I know that they couldn't use actresses that young though. I also told Todd that I feared that they the movie would be nothing like the book because so many years are spanned in the book. I see that Hollywood has not failed in this respect. Too bad too, because I enjoyed the book.

I'm off to see the movie tomorrow, but now I'm not so sure if I just wait for it to hit Redbox.

[aliki.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review. I really enjoy her books, and The Other Boleyn Girl was the first one I read. I won't be seeing the movie version, that's for sure!