The Other Boleyn Girl

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.

I'm still amazed that they were able to take such fascinating subject matter and turn out such a dull, miscast and disjointed feature. Switching the ages of the two main female characters didn't help, either. On the plus side, it was enjoyable to see Jared Harris apparently channeling his late father for his role of Henry VIII.

Skip the movie, read the book.

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

The ever-dependable Steven Mackintosh and Natascha McElhone turned in solid performances to back up Jodhi May's powerful portrayal of the Tudor monarch. Jared Harris' Henry VIII managed to be sympathetic, seductive and tyrannical in turn. The unusual talking-to-camera, reality TV-style direction was a feature that really ought not to have worked but somehow did. As a depiction of the ruthless politics and intrigue of the medieval court, the movie succeeded very well. One word said out of place and heads, quite literally, would roll. A historical film could be said to be good if it increases interest in its subject matter. This fascinating and complex story is sufficient to have the laziest viewer reaching for the history books by the time the closing credits appear.