It seems that every year or so Hollywood puts out a lavish period piece chronicling England’s Tudor past. There are enough of these films now that you can stitch them all together and come away with a complete (if completely inaccurate) history of jolly old England.

The Other Boleyn Girl is the story of two sisters: willful, intelligent and headstrong Anne (Natalie Portman) and simple, uncomplicated and forthright Mary (Scarlett Johansson). When King Henry VIII (Eric Bana playing the famous monarch before he ballooned) begins looking outside his marriage bed for personal and national satisfaction — his Queen, Katherine of Aragon (Ana Torrent) cannot conceive a male heir — the girls’ scheming uncle, the Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey), ensures that Anne and Mary fall beneath his gaze.

Leaving the simplicity of country life behind, both young women are brought to court where they are thrust into a world of political intrigue and subversive power plays. What begins as an opportunity to advance their family’s position is soon transformed into a merciless rivalry between Mary, who genuinely loves Henry and Anne, who will stop at nothing to become his next queen. It is a rivalry that will first tear their family in two and stop only when England itself is rent asunder. The rest is, as they say, history.

The Other Boleyn Girl is a fascinating look at sex as commodity. The girl’s father (Mark Rylance), whose weakness we mistake early on as kindness, moves his children around like game pieces. While Mary is horrified at her position as sexual chattel, Anne embraces the challenge ravenously.

When I was young, my mother had a sign on her desk at work that read: Do you want to talk to the man in charge or the woman who really knows what’s going on? Clever, manipulative and fearless, Anne is a bodiced Machiavelli who excels at pulling the strings of all the men around her while simultaneously making them think they are in control. She is willing to prostitute herself so long as the act climaxes in personal power.

The Other Boleyn Girl plays against type. We are used to seeing Scarlett Johansson as the sultry siren, oozing sex in her wake. But here it is Natalie Portman, usually coy and demure, who is ambitious fire and sharp lusts this time around. In the beginning, the two American stars appear to be playacting in period costumes, but it isn’t long before they become subsumed by the sumptuous narrative along with our reservations.

Eric Bana is a perfect choice as the brooding baby maker. His Henry is represented as a monarch of menace and dread rather than pomp and circumstance. It is not that he is intrinsically malevolent, but more to the point, his position is so radioactive that all who stray too close are doomed to die. When he makes love, it is an act of monarchical natural selection first and pleasure second. Though Bana is given plenty of screen time, he is sadly not given much to do with it — more prop than character.

The overlong yet engrossing The Other Boleyn Girl is based on the best selling novel by Philippa Gregory, which was described to me by a friend as, “sex, sex, sex.” While Boleyn has its share of sensuality — tamed for the screen — what we are left with is an absorbing story of bonds stronger than death, and undiminished loyalty even in the face of treachery and betrayal.

© Copyright 2008 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.