The Other Boleyn Girl (Justin Chadwick, 2008) Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Mark Rylance, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne
[The only thing that could come between these sisters is a kingdom.]
I've come to realise that my real interest in films is in the acting, and this is an A-list cast, both in terms of their bankability, and also their ability - which is not the same thing. So we have actual good actors: Rylance, Cumberbatch, Redmayne - and 'stars': Portman, Johansson, Bana. Unfortunately, we see very little of the former, and far too much of the latter.
I must say, as an Australian, that I'm surprised not only that Bana got a gig this big, but also that he sounds like an Australian. Don't they have voice coaches wherever this was made?
For the record, Bana was good in Romulus My Father, Rylance was good in Bridge of Spies, and Cumberbatch is always good: he's just not on the screen enough to make an impression in this.
... Even more unimportantly: 'Boleyn' is pronounced throughout as bəll-in, with the accent on the second syllable. Whereas I assume that 'Boleyn' was just another way of spelling 'Bullen', with the accent on the first syllable.
Oh ... as for the film as such: all the techy stuff is admirable: costumes, cinematography, tho the music is a bit sucky. The script is very ordinary. It's on broadcast as I'm writing this, and I'm finding my writing more interesting than watching the film, which I'm mostly not looking at.
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 1 September, 2017 | Now: 2 January, 2022