Movie Thoughts : The Other Boleyn Girl
Mar. 16th, 2008 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulFirst, the unspoilery things about OBG:
- Costumes were pretty but what was UP with the lighting? I think they were going for that grainy BBC Mini-series from the 1980s look.
- DID EVERY SINGLE SCENE HAVE TO START/END WITH AN OBJECT IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA?? I mean, WTF. Did the director just show up and shoot the movie with no prior blocking so he didn't know that the large POLE would be in the shot? It went from a style to stupidity after about the 10th shot.
- Scarlet and Natalie are gorgeous. Too bad this movie was a total waste of their time. Clearly they just wanted to wear the pretty dresses.
Okay, spoilery stuff in case you care:
Okay, if the book was a bunch of baloney, the movie was spam. Just total hogwash. (and I am SCARED of the person that sees that movie and is actually surprised by the "Elizabeth becomes Queen" note at the end). I'm not a student of British history but I know most of that was bull. As![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
toothlesshag pointed out in here reaction to the movie, Henry would NEVER have raped Anne. No way. He was a god fearing man and rape is a no-no. Even in the Tudors series, he asks politely first before jumping a few girls.
The movie was without focus. They needed to pick a theme. The screenwriter thought they were doing some weird feminist work, turning Mother Boleyn (Kristen Scott Thomas, ALSO wasted on this production) into a Greek Chorus, spouting warnings and such that the audience understands but no one else seems to. Daddy Boleyn was a little bitch to the Howards. Henry came off as a child, as usual. Catherine...oh in the book she is so tragic, but instead they just kind of have her around (that actress was great too). In the movie it isn't even clear where she went. its as though Anne just willed her in the cornfield.
The writer thought they were being clever, showing Catherine, Mary, and Anne all in their birthing beds getting the bad news about one thing or the other. But, it wasn't clever because it didn't MEAN anything.
Also, this movie had the opportunity to be very sexy and sensual. I mean, clearly they did not feel obligated to stick with history, why not go all the way and give us a bit more romance and seduction. It was like when I suffered through Twilight thinking "Well, at least I'll get to read a steamy sex scene at some point, it is clearly headed that way" and then nothing. That's how this movie was. You sit there thinking "well, at least the conquest of Henry will be all sexy-like being that it is Scarlet and Natalie and Eric Bana. But no. Nothing. Zip. Nada.
I just can't get over all the missed opportunities. A film that could have had a great mix of sex, politics, history, intrigue - ala Cate Blanchet's Elizabeth - was instead reduced to a movie about two women fighting over one big stupid man who could care less. The novel might have played it fast and loose with history, but at least it was INTERESTING. OBG was like
- Costumes were pretty but what was UP with the lighting? I think they were going for that grainy BBC Mini-series from the 1980s look.
- DID EVERY SINGLE SCENE HAVE TO START/END WITH AN OBJECT IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA?? I mean, WTF. Did the director just show up and shoot the movie with no prior blocking so he didn't know that the large POLE would be in the shot? It went from a style to stupidity after about the 10th shot.
- Scarlet and Natalie are gorgeous. Too bad this movie was a total waste of their time. Clearly they just wanted to wear the pretty dresses.
Okay, spoilery stuff in case you care:
Okay, if the book was a bunch of baloney, the movie was spam. Just total hogwash. (and I am SCARED of the person that sees that movie and is actually surprised by the "Elizabeth becomes Queen" note at the end). I'm not a student of British history but I know most of that was bull. As
toothlesshag pointed out in here reaction to the movie, Henry would NEVER have raped Anne. No way. He was a god fearing man and rape is a no-no. Even in the Tudors series, he asks politely first before jumping a few girls. The movie was without focus. They needed to pick a theme. The screenwriter thought they were doing some weird feminist work, turning Mother Boleyn (Kristen Scott Thomas, ALSO wasted on this production) into a Greek Chorus, spouting warnings and such that the audience understands but no one else seems to. Daddy Boleyn was a little bitch to the Howards. Henry came off as a child, as usual. Catherine...oh in the book she is so tragic, but instead they just kind of have her around (that actress was great too). In the movie it isn't even clear where she went. its as though Anne just willed her in the cornfield.
The writer thought they were being clever, showing Catherine, Mary, and Anne all in their birthing beds getting the bad news about one thing or the other. But, it wasn't clever because it didn't MEAN anything.
Also, this movie had the opportunity to be very sexy and sensual. I mean, clearly they did not feel obligated to stick with history, why not go all the way and give us a bit more romance and seduction. It was like when I suffered through Twilight thinking "Well, at least I'll get to read a steamy sex scene at some point, it is clearly headed that way" and then nothing. That's how this movie was. You sit there thinking "well, at least the conquest of Henry will be all sexy-like being that it is Scarlet and Natalie and Eric Bana. But no. Nothing. Zip. Nada.
I just can't get over all the missed opportunities. A film that could have had a great mix of sex, politics, history, intrigue - ala Cate Blanchet's Elizabeth - was instead reduced to a movie about two women fighting over one big stupid man who could care less. The novel might have played it fast and loose with history, but at least it was INTERESTING. OBG was like
