I don’t like period dramas but after watching The Crown and enjoying that because it was actually more of a factual story then usual period drama fiction, I thought I would give this movie a go and well, I was blown away.

The Other Boleyn girl follows the Boleyn sisters Anne and Mary who both get to know Henry the eighth and as we all know from the history books Anne was his wife and did get beheaded. But what the history books didn’t teach me was the reasons behind this and also the fact that Henry had a fling with her sister too.

So in this we see that Anne is the lesser sister, she is the one that’s more independent, more over the top and definitely before her time. Whereas Mary is soft and sweet and she is married but Henry still has to have his way with her and produce a child. Two apparently according to Wikipedia but that’s up for debate.

But my biggest issue with this movie and it’s not to do with the movie but is to do with the actual way of the world at that time was. How obsessed Henry is about getting a son to be his heir and the fact that his first wife just couldn’t produce the son and then Mary produces a son for him but that couldn’t be the end of it. Anne still had to have him and Henry couldn’t deny her so chose Anne over both his wife and her sister! It’s more drama than EastEnders!

So in the end and the shocking discovery that I found out, which is insane and spoilers ahead, was that Anne had a daughter to Henry, Elizabeth, who did become a queen but then she also got pregnant with another child who she sadly lost. But she knew that if the king found out that she could not bear children that he would get rid of her. Of course she didn’t want that so she planned to fake her pregnancy with Henry by having a baby with her own brother!

Yes you read that right, her own brother! To cover up the fact she miscarried she was going to get pregnant with her brother’s baby and play it off as Henry’s, how insane is that?! And the only reason that she felt she had to do this was because her daughter, the one who did become Queen and would rule over England for years, wasn’t good enough in Henry’s eyes. It’s such a messed up story.

Now of course I’m seeing it from 21st-century eyes but if this was me I would’ve been so angry, I would not of stood for it, and I probably would’ve got beheaded as well. I think it’s disgusting how these women were treated and for the family to put their family honour in front of their children’s happiness is just disgusting.

This was an utterly incredible movie that had so many twists and turns that I just did not expect and so if you’re thinking of watching more period dramas or you just want to know more about history in a fun way then I definitely recommend this, because it was fascinating, it was so interesting to watch and it’s definitely sparked my interest in wanting to watch more true story history films.

What do you think?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding