Plot: What’s it about?
Henry VIII (Eric Bana) is married to Catherine or Aragon (Ana Torrent), but the union has started to fall apart. Henry wants to have a male heir to the throne, but Catherine has been unable to give him a son. This drive for a son has pushed Henry to look outside his marriage for a solution and with his royal status, he doesn’t have to search for willing women. In specific, two sisters seek to become Henry’s new wife, but for very different reasons. Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson) is shy and reserved, but is soon smitten with Henry and his advances. Her sister Anne (Natalie Portman) also wants to be at Henry’s side, but not for romance, instead she wants a chance to obtain some power. When Mary gets pregnant but then loses the child, Anne doesn’t hesitate and jumps right in, to try to secure Henry for herself. But what consequences will come from this battle of sisters over a man, even one with such power as Henry VIII?
I am not a big fan of period dramas, but The Other Boleyn Girl seemed to have promise, not to mention an impressive lineup of talent. Eric Bana as Henry VIII, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson as the Boleyn sisters, if nothing else I figured the cast alone was reason enough to check the flick out. As it turns out, I wasn’t that taken with The Other Boleyn Girl, as it doesn’t remain close to the historical record, but at the same time, doesn’t do much with dramatic license. Either commit and stick with the facts or go all out and make history come to life in dramatic fashion, but don’t deal in half fact like this movie does. I just never clicked with the movie and wasn’t drawn into the material. The Tudors is by no means ideal, but at least it was able to keep my attention, whereas this film was unable to do so. But if you’re a period drama fan, you’ll love the costumes and detailed production design, but even then, keep it to a rental in this case.
Video: How does it look?
The Other Boleyn Girl is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. As this was shot on high end HD cameras, the image looks excellent. The visuals have a nice presence, with impressive depth and rich detail. You’ll be able to spot individual threads and fibers in the costumes, that’s how sharp this transfer is at times. The colors have been tinkered with a little with, so flesh tones don’t look that natural, with more of a white hue. That seems to mesh with the period however, so while the colors have a little tweak, the visuals don’t suffer. I did have a few minor quibbles with the color otherwise and while indeed minor, they were enough to knock the score by half a point.
Audio: How does it sound?
This Dolby TrueHD 5.1 option is good, but not great. There is a lot of potential for audio spark here, just in terms of adding realism to the atmosphere, but most of it goes untapped. The surrounds rarely fire up, but when they do the mix livens up a lot, so at least a taste is there. The movie is dialogue driven and vocals sound great, but small touches could have enhanced the movie so much, but sadly that doesn’t happen. The soundtrack is solid, don’t misunderstand, but it could have been much, much more immersive. This disc also includes Spanish and French language tracks, as well as subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Exclusive to this Blu-ray release is Inside the Court, which uses picture in picture to provide insightful historical trivia, production information, additional background on the characters, and even excerpts from the novel on which The Other Boleyn Girl was based. This is a nice inclusion and what could have been rather bland as a text track is given life thanks to a slick, fun to watch presentation. The rest of the extras are ported over from the standard release, starting with audio comments from director Justin Chadwick. He is well prepared and covers a lot of ground, from the cameras used to the cast to the historical aspect and beyond, all in great detail. I didn’t care for the movie itself, but this session is an excellent one and well worth a listen, even if the movie left you cold.
A trio of featurettes are up next, one that looks at how the historical record translated to the production. This piece runs about ten minutes, so there isn’t much depth, but it is decent. The next piece runs about seventeen minutes and has the cast & historians give quick profiles on the prominent historical figures from the movie. Again this is a decent watch, but with so little time available, there isn’t much insight. The final featurette focuses on the women from the time period in the film, the social demands put on them and their place in that era. The duration is only eleven minutes, but a lot of information is packed in those minutes. This disc also includes some deleted scenes, as well as tests of the HD cameras used to shoot the movie.
