The Other Boleyn Girl

The title refers to the other Boleyn sister, Mary who was at first put under Henry VIII's radar by her family (or rather her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk) in order to gain power to the throne of England before having that plan foiled by (infamous) Anne. You know what happens in the end.

Having already read the book, I just find it hard to believe that Mary's (Scarlett Johansson) the younger Boleyn in the movie and not Anne (Natalie Portman), which answers my question about the casting. My other casting beef is with Eric Bana as King Henry - you would think that they'd find a better looking blonde than a hunky brunet. Notice that the three leads are not English by birth (Eric Bana's Australian, Natalie Portman's Israeli by birth and Scarlett's South African).

I have no problems with Jim Sturgess playing George Boleyn, brother of Anne and Mary because he's an Englishman playing an Englishman. In the movie he just comes across as the (a bit too) devoted brother and son who hates the woman he was married to. I'm just surprised that they didn't play up the gay angle, but that would take too much time and explanation.

In the book, Mary's the older one and was only 13 (but already married to William Carey) when she started bonking the king and had two (not one, as per movie) of the king's basta... oops, illegitimate children by the time she was 16 or 17. But I don't think audiences are gonna believe that Scarlett was playing a minor, neither are the casting people are about to cast an actual minor to play the role. (Think Dakota Fanning... )

The movie's not that faithful to the book, but I guess it's believable enough if you don't read it afters.

The pace of the movie is ridiculously fast (which is why it's not 2 hours long) - decades go by in seconds. I'm pretty sure that some of the audience (there was about a dozen people in the screening room) had more than one question about what happened to whom, especially in the end when it says that Mary married William Stafford and lived happily ever after away from the court - I'm sure there must be someone wondering what happened to the first husband (he died of "the sweats").

The Other Boleyn Girl the movie is meant for people who at least know their Tudor history or have already read the book.