I hate when something gets in my head and won't leave. Most of you have probably experienced this with a song or melody. But have you ever experienced it with a show or movie? The other morning I watched "the Other Boleyn Girl" and I can't stop thinking about it, or rather 'feeling' about it. I felt certain things when I was watching the movie and I can't get that feeling to go away.
My brief synopsis of the movie for those who haven't seen it (skip if you prefer not to know how the movie goes):
The 'true' story takes place around the 1500s and beings with the Boleyn family; a aristocratic type family who has a title but not a whole lot of money. There are two Boleyn sisters, Anne (played by Natalie Portman) and Mary (played by Scarlett Johannson) and the best way to establish yourself or get ahead in this time period is to marry up, using your daughters. The family sees a unique opportunity to become involved with King Henry the XIII (8th) as his wife hadn't given him a male heir.
The original plan was to get the King's attention through Anne, the unmarried and allegedly more devious of the two sisters. However the strong willed Anne upsets the king through a series of events and he ends up falling for the married Mary - a fact that doesn't seem to affect the King. The King invites/orders the family to "court" (I'm assuming this translates to mean his castle) where he proceeds to seduce Mary and impregnate her.
Then, Anne ends up seducing the King herself, convincing him to get an annulment from his current/first wife, seperate from the Roman church to start his own and to marry her. Part of the seduction is that she will give him a legitimate male heir (her sister managed to produce a male but his is a 'bastard' of course). While Anne was successful at getting the King to do this things, it causes him much stress so he ends up resenting her immensly. Anne first gives birth to a female (Queen Elizabeth the First it turns out) but manages only a stillborn/miscarried male before the King accuses her of crimes and has her beheaded....
So, although I believe you are suppose to like Mary's character in the movie, I wasn't much of a fan as I don't really like Scarlett Johansson. I consider her a good actress but for some reason I don't like her (I think I'm jealous of her blondeness and apparent sex appeal). Instead I really resonated with Natalie Portman's character Anne. So her character goes through quite a journey of feelings - the King choosing her sister over her, being exiled by her family to France, being beckoned back to keep the King interested in her sister despite being bed ridden, then wooing the King and bending him to her will so that she can become Queen but having to squash her personal feelings through this. Then what she be celebrated success is not joyful as the King ends up resenting her, having forceful sex, many affairs...then stress over trying to produce a male child with the fear of being burned at the stake or beheaded being the penalty of no heir.
Anne's desperation to produce a male heir reminded me of how I am feeling lately. Certainly not to the same extent! - but definitely some of the same feelings. Tyler & I decided to stop using any sort of birth control and allow a baby (or babies/twins if I have my way) to come about as nature allowed. However this was about a year ago and I am struggling between letting things happen naturally and getting totally crazy about it...I think a previous blog touched on this a bit but I don't think I've given it the blog it deserves. So I'm going to continue it in it's own entry...
You need to read the book! It's much better than the movie. The movie leaves out a ton of stuff. I love the book. I've read it several times. I think you'll like Mary better. It's hard to love Mary when she's being played by Scarlett Johannson. I don't think Scarlett Johannson is capable of being sweet, innocent and naive.
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