The ambitious men of the Howard and Boleyn clans, Anne and Mary's father Thomas and their uncle, the Duke of Suffolk, have heard rumors that the king grows tired of Queen Katherine of Aragon because she has failed to give him a viable son and heir to the throne. Intent on thrusting a lovely young girl from one of their families in front of the lusty Henry, they decide on Anne, as she is the sharper and more shrewd of the two. Anne's need to be the focus of everything turns what should have been a hunt that sealed Henry's desire for her into a fiasco, resulting in the king's injury. When Mary is selected to care for his wounds, Henry becomes completely infatuated with her, finagling for she and her husband, William Carey, to come back to court. They soon begin a love affair, with Mary completely losing her heart to Henry and Henry becoming the tender lover Mary never had. Anne is sent off to France as punishment for her impudence, but she is called upon to return to court when Mary takes to bed with Henry's unborn child. Instead of keeping Henry's mind on Mary, as she was tasked, she instead turns Henry's eyes towards herself, betraying her sister.
Anne's cold and calculating thirst for power eventually results in Henry putting Katherine away for her and she rising to the throne as Queen. When Anne miscarries the child she is carrying, she contemplates the unthinkable, desperate to get pregnant again before Henry discovers the truth. Her plot fails and Henry accuses Anne and her brother George of treason and incest and the rest is history.
The acting in The Other Boleyn Girl is absolutely excellent. Everyone is cast perfectly and each is entirely believable in their roles. The main difference between the book and the movie, for those who have already read the book, is that you feel sorry for the Anne in the movie, actually pitying her at times, whereas the Anne in the book gets exactly what she deserves. She is heartless, cruel and evil, manipulating all of those around her and sometimes doing things simply to hurt others for the joy in it. The Anne in this movie is ambitious to a fault, yes, but she also seems to have a small fraction of a heart. I also found that since large chunks of what I was expecting from the book were left out, the movie was both slow and fast. Meaning, it was fast because it skipped over so much, but slow because it was not an action-packed thriller, but more based on character development.
Included in the special features are some deleted and alternate scenes that give a little more insight into some of what was left out. There is a section on biographies of the characters in the film, which I absolutely loved. History buffs will really dig this part as scholars discuss the individuals at length. Then there are a handful of featurettes that talk about bringing a historical story like this to the big screen, one that discusses what it must have been like to be a woman of that time, plus some camera tests (not the actors testing out for the roles, but the director getting a feel for what the shots would look like). I mentioned earlier about how great the actors were in this movie, but truly the costumes are ranked right up there with the stars. The fabrics are magnificent and I loved how the Boleyn sisters would wear the same patterns in varying colors, almost as if they were a reflection of one another. The "milk and honey" sister and the dark and cold one. This was nicely conveyed through their apparel.
Should you see this movie? If you have interest in the story of Anne Boleyn, her sister Mary and King Henry the VIII, the answer is a resounding yes. The movie is very good indeed. It's just that those who read the book expecting that rendition may be somewhat disappointed at the obvious differences. Those who haven't read the book will no doubt love the movie.
