The king of the romance paperback didn’t pose as the king of England. No, Fabio was never on the cover of Philippa Gregory’s juicy historical novel about Anne Boleyn’s previously obscure sister Mary.
But he might as well have been.
Because Gregory combined the overwrought stylings of a flowery bodice-ripper with some interesting new scholarship about Mary’s hidden role as Henry VIII’s lover at a crucial moment in European history and world religion in 2001’s “The Other Boleyn Girl.” It was a good read, as they say.
Unfortunately, neither the book’s sexy guilty pleasures nor its easy-to-swallow educational detail about high-level 16th-century political and religious intrigue are exploited thoroughly enough in today’s well-intended movie adaptation by Brit TV director Justin Chadwick and screenwriter Peter Morgan (“The Queen”). Helmsman Chadwick pulls back the source material’s flaunting eroticism to a modest PG-13 level. Meanwhile, scriptor Morgan’s need to tick through the larger plot points forces him to leave out too much of the dramatic palace backbiting in the condensed confines of a feature film.
What “Other” does have is two of our finest young actresses playing against type here.
Natalie Portman subverts her pristine good-girl persona to be the fiery Anne Boleyn. That legendary manipulator used Henry’s unconsummated desire for her to overthrow his longtime Spanish wife, the Catholic Church, the stability of a continent, and — as it turns out — her family’s intentions to become the queen of England.
At the same time, the more edgy screen siren Scarlett Johansson portrays Mary. The kind-hearted younger sister bears for Henry (Eric Bana) a bastard son before Anne steals the fickle sovereign away from her.
If Henry had chosen the compliant consort Mary over the doomed seductress Anne, the whole course of Renaissance Europe might have ended up differently. This harrowing high-stakes context never comes to life, though, despite the good efforts of a cast that also includes Kristin Scott Thomas as the girls’ anguished mother and David Morrissey as their uncle the duke of Norfolk, the villainous courtier who acts as their pimp for the king.
Acceptable acting and an inherently remarkable true story aren’t enough compensation, however. This version of how Henry’s private life would rock history doesn’t even make the grade as period eye candy. Lush recent productions like Showtime’s “The Tudors,” HBO’s “Elizabeth I” and Cate Blanchett’s reprise portrayal of Henry’s daughter in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” on the big screen blow away “The Other Boleyn Girl” for design expression of that era.
So, in all, it’s more royal pain than royal flush.
‘The Other Boleyn Girl’
**
» Starring: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana
» Director: Justin Chadwick
» RatedPG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexual content and some violent images
» Running time: 114 minutes
