The Other Boleyn Girl **

The Boleyn sisters were a remarkable pair. One, Mary, became the mistress of King Henry VIII of England. Her charismatic older sister Anne, on the other hand, became Henry's queen, bore him a daughter, Elizabeth, reigned for a thousand days before her execution, and is remembered as one of the strongest consorts in British history and a founding light of the Church of England. Europe in the 1520's was in the midst of change, as the reforms of Luther and other Protestants roiled the established order. And Anne was in the thick of it, with a lively court of scholars and favorites that she promoted. You'll see none of that in "The Other Boleyn Girl."

Instead, what we have is a Boleyn-family view of Henry and the court, where the overweening ambition of the girls' father and uncle make Mary (Scarlett Johansson) and Anne (Natalie Portman) pawns in a game to increase Boleyn influence and wealth. This is a bedroom soap opera view of the affairs of state. In the bedroom we have sex, including consideration of strategic incest, miscarriages, and childbirth. These are the milestones that mark the movie's progress. The connective tissue of the story is a succession of short scenes, usually two or three lines, punctuated by courtiers striding down corridors to the next plot point. Henry (Eric Bana) is reduced to a caricature, stuck in an underwritten part and reduced to posing (in magnificent costumes) and brooding alone, like a 16th century "Thinker."

There's a lot of plot to cover, and it's disappointing that writer Peter Morgan, who thrilled with "The Queen" and "The Last King of Scotland," fails to deliver a compelling story here. Although too sketchy by far, his Anne at least gives Natalie Portman enough material to mount an excellent performance. Scarlett Johansson has a less convincing role and fails to engage. Eric Bana looks every bit the king, but likewise has no meat to his role. Of the other characters, only Kristin Scott Thomas, as the mother Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, and Ana Torrent, as Catherine of Aragon, give us any reason to pay attention. Costumes are sumptuous and the locations have the ring of authenticity. On the whole, it's a rather flat history lesson that tries, and fails, to enliven its subject matter by concentrating on the private lives of the public people.

Rated PG-13. 115 Minutes. Directed by Justin Chadwick. Screenplay by Peter Morgan from the novel by Philippa Gregory. Produced by Alison Owen, Scott Rudin, Keiran McGuigan. Cinemtography by John Paul Kelly. Production Design by Paul Knight. Edited by Carol Littleton. Distributed in the U.S. by Columbia Pictures and Focus Features. Principal actors: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Jim Sturgess, Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas, David Morrissey.