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Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson playing sisters is undoubtedly dream casting in the eyes of many a male viewer. Both of the young-but-experienced actresses were clearly attracted to The Other Boleyn Girl due to its peculiarity in the usually male-dominated world of mainstream films; this is a film driven by its two leading ladies. Both deliver strong performances and carry the film well. In particular, Portman, who, it's fair to say, has been inconsistent with her performances over the last few years, gives a good showing and clearly enjoys getting to grips with a surprisingly complex character. Anne goes through an interesting arc in the film, extremely sympathetic at first - she's ordered to woo the already-married Henry VIII due to her father's political ambitions, but the king finds himself attracted more to her younger sister, Mary - then eventually turning into a scheming and cold-hearted manipulator (not that you could really blame her after what she is put through). Johansson's Mary is the smaller, less showy role, and the normally stunning starlet takes a willing back seat to Portman here in both the limelight and beauty stakes.
The other roles are less memorable but all the performances ably support the above-the-title actresses. Eric Bana, as the notorious king himself, has relatively little to do other than look brooding and macho, but the underrated Aussie star is reliable as ever. All three leads are required to speak in an unfamiliar accent but, despite Portman seeming a little constrained by it at times, it never becomes much of a problem. At the reigns is the first-time feature director Justin Chadwick, the man behind the camera for the BBC's acclaimed recent series of Charles Dickens' Bleak House. Clearly, the source material here (Philippa Gregory's historical novel of the same name) isn't nearly in the same class, but Chadwick keeps the plot advancing at a healthy pace. Interest is never allowed to wane, although the increasingly grim happenings of the latter half are not quite as engrossing as the earlier parts, perhaps largely due to the familiarity of the events depicted - surely everyone knows what Anne has in store for her.
The look of the film has been criticised in some quarters, but the harsher condemnation is undeserved. The filmmakers elected to use the latest digital camera technology instead of the traditional sort (the same employed by Bryan Singer in Superman Returns, for example), and while the film is never exactly stunning, cinematographer Keiran McGuigan crafts an attractive golden palette and captures the earthy charm of the historic English countryside locations. Indeed, the look of the film is rather reminiscent of Shekhar Kapur's breakthrough film Elizabeth, which must be deliberate - The Other Boleyn Girl ends on a note that virtually confirms it as an attempt at a prequel to Working Title's 1998 success (sadly, but not surprisingly, neither Portman or Johansson are able to match Cate Blanchett's star-making debut performance). Curiously, the end is delivered like a twist, but only those who slept through their high school history class would find it at all surprising.
The summary
An enjoyable Tudor soap opera that is light on historical accuracy but guiltily engrossing nonetheless.
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