I finally saw The Other Boleyn Girl a few days ago. Now I'd heard it was rather mediocre, but every once in a while I like those kinds of movies and I figured the dresses would be pretty. Basically, I was going for mindless entertainment. Now, I didn't really have a problem with the acting (wish they would have had more of Kristen Scott Thomas, the mother), but I just didn't like the way they set up the story. I realize the novel it's based on isn't exactly super-accurate, but I really disliked the way the movie dealt with time. The Mary-Henry relationship has quite a while to develop, and then he starts gaining interest in Anne. And suddenly, the next six years fly by within a time span of less than five minutes.
From all I've read, part of the reason Henry was initially attracted to Anne was her intelligence and her wit. They don't engage in too many, if any, intellectual conversations, and it's hard to see how Anne would have kept his interest so long. Also, I think if she's really as ambitious as the film portrays her, she also would have been more subtle at points.
The showtime series The Tudors isn't perfect, either, by a long shot, but it does a much better job of dealing the politics and other issues that were also going on at the time, and giving context. Even though events are on an accelerated cycle in that show as well, they do a much better job of implying the passage of time.
But the dresses were nice.
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