Queen Katherine (Ana Torrent) has once again failed to produce a male heir and the Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey) sees a way to turn this misfortune for England into personal wealth by supplying King Henry (Eric Bana) with a distraction in the form of his ambitious niece, Anne (Natalie Portman). But the meet-cute goes horribly and Henry ends up enchanted by Anne's younger --and married-- sister, Mary (Scarlett Johansson). He brings the entire Boleyn family to court, raising their social esteem and sliding some lucrative appointments their way. Anne, banished to France for her schemes to steal another heiress's man (Oliver Coleman), returns when Mary is knocked up and the king's attention is waning. She wastes no time engaging his affections for herself, overseeing Mary pushed aside, the queen deposed, and the creation of the Church of England all to get herself on the throne.
I'm not going to go into the historical inaccuracies because we don't have all day. Suffice to say, this is very much the CW version of events.
Mostly I was struck by how every single woman in this movie was betrayed by the men in their lives. Over and over again. It's just a constant refrain. The characterizations are pretty flimsy, so it's hard to feel any sympathy. Anne is a wretched harridan and Mary is a sad doll. Portman and Johansson are both capable of much more and it is a shame they were wasted here. You could really say that about the entire cast, though. Mark Rylance, Kristen Scott Thomas, Eddie Redmayne, Jim Sturgiss, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Juno Temple are all underutilized playing cardboard cutouts draped in velvet and brocade.
I know a lot of people liked this movie, including my cousin, Christy, but I just don't get it. It's streaming on Netflix.
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