But the first thing that struck me was the visuals of the movie. In terms of character modeling, I think this movie has done enough homework. The three protagonists in the film, Anne Boleyn, Mary Boleyn and Henry VIII, all have oil painting portraits left in the world, and they are all from the handwriting of the great German painter Hans Holbein. These portraits of him are immortal masterpieces in the history of Western painting, which also provide a great reference space for the art design of the film. Therefore, when I entered the plot, the first thing that surprised me was that the characters in the film were so close to Holbein's portrait. Of course, it was not how similar the facial features of the three actors were to them, but the design of these costumes and shapes. It makes people feel like they have stepped out of an oil painting. Another thing worth mentioning is the photography of the film, because to restore the texture of the oil painting, it is not enough to rely on clothing modeling. The photographer's handling of light and color also captures some of Holbein's characteristics, but it is not like "Girl with a Pearl Earring", which just blindly pursues oil painting effects and makes the picture too greasy. This photographer pays great attention to the use of natural light in the pictures dealing with the exterior scenes, and several exterior scenes are quite textured. Especially the sun's glare in a few shots, it's very atmospheric. In fact, I have always felt that using photography techniques to restore the texture of oil paintings is a rather useless approach. Because after all, these are two different artistic mediums, and there is no need to use a camera to deliberately pursue the effect of a brush. The camera has its own unique beauty. If you want to pursue a classical artistic conception, you only need to do enough in the atmosphere. If it is too much, it will make people feel tired. In addition, there are some sports skills in photography. In this film, the photographer often uses some occlusions in the foreground to match the movement to create the atmosphere of the picture. In fact, this is handled quite well in the first few scenes, such as children playing in the grass, But this technique is used over and over again in this film, which feels rather tedious and has a detrimental effect on the atmosphere.
About the story of the movie, it can be said that it is another common cliché in Hollywood. In fact, the story about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is very dramatic in itself. It is a household name in the UK and has been adapted repeatedly, including Shakespeare. However, the screenwriter (the author of the original novel of the film) and the director deliberately exaggerated Anne Boleyn's sister Mary Boleyn as the central character, which can be seen from the title of the film "The Other Boleyn Girl". Of course, this is also interesting, because Mary Boleyn's history is easier to make up than Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, and their sister relationship is easier to deal with more dramatic conflicts. However, the fault was that they played up the drama of this sisterhood too much, and made their relationship with Henry VIII a child's play. Throughout the film, Henry VIII has almost no character at all, and his character placement is entirely designed to accentuate the drama of the sisters' relationship. The King Henry VIII, who once influenced the fate of England, was fooled by various women like a child with an IQ of no more than 18 years old. You know, you can adapt a historical figure to make him more dramatic, but you must respect the character of this historical figure. If not, why make a movie about a historical figure? For example, in the history Anne Boleyn grew up in France, but in the story, the story of Anne Boleyn going to France was adapted after she and Henry Percy got engaged. I think this adaptation is acceptable, because it highlights the contradiction between the sisters and strengthens Anne Boleyn's character. But the core of the film itself is the relationship between the two sisters and Henry VIII. It is the entanglement of this relationship that can strengthen the contradiction between the sisters that the creator wants to express, so it must be done on this emotional event. in place. But it is precisely this question that fully exposes the frailty of the play. Historically, Henry Although VIII could not be called a great monarch, or even a tyrant, he was by no means a man of low intelligence. It was he who broke up with the Holy See through the pretext of divorce and founded the Protestant "Holy Union" in England. This religious independence also made England develop from a small remote and barbaric country in Europe to an influential power. He has strong political skills in both foreign and domestic affairs. Although most of them are violent and arbitrary, it can also be seen that his character is a very strong and tough person. He has six married wives in his life and countless lovers, so his emotions are relatively complicated. Besides Mary Boleyn, she is also a ruthless character in history. She was also educated in France. She is not a simple "country girl" as shown in the movie. When she was in France, she was with the French The royal family has had many affairs. So it is conceivable that the relationship between these two people is actually very complicated. But the film takes the relationship for granted in a way that you can adapt the experience of the two to become more stereotyped, like you did with Anne Boleyn. But at the very least, it must be in line with the emotional logic of the characters you created. The logic of this emotion itself comes from the character development after the adaptation of these two characters. The story between a country girl and a king is even in fairy tale books. It happens all the time, how could it be so naive? Of course, the director and screenwriter must know these historical facts better than a Chinese person, but I think it is worth pondering, why did the story end up like this? I think it is a most basic mistake, that is, the wrong focus. The film has always wanted to highlight the contradictions in this sister relationship, but as everyone knows, how this relationship is caused is the relationship between the sisters and the king! How can it be possible for the audience to understand the dramatic conflict you want to express without focusing on the emotional details? Boleyn did the same. But at the very least, it must be in line with the emotional logic of the characters you created. The logic of this emotion itself comes from the character development after the adaptation of these two characters. The story between a country girl and a king is even in fairy tale books. It happens all the time, how could it be so naive? Of course, the director and screenwriter must know these historical facts better than a Chinese person, but I think it is worth pondering, why did the story end up like this? I think it is a most basic mistake, that is, the wrong focus. The film has always wanted to highlight the contradictions in this sister relationship, but as everyone knows, how this relationship is caused is the relationship between the sisters and the king! How can it be possible for the audience to understand the dramatic conflict you want to express without focusing on the emotional details? Boleyn did the same. But at the very least, it must be in line with the emotional logic of the characters you created. The logic of this emotion itself comes from the character development after the adaptation of these two characters. The story between a country girl and a king is even in fairy tale books. It happens all the time, how could it be so naive? Of course, the director and screenwriter must know these historical facts better than a Chinese person, but I think it is worth pondering, why did the story end up like this? I think it is a most basic mistake, that is, the wrong focus. The film has always wanted to highlight the contradictions in this sister relationship, but as everyone knows, how this relationship is caused is the relationship between the sisters and the king! How can it be possible for the audience to understand the dramatic conflict you want to express without focusing on the emotional details?
It is worth mentioning that there are actually several pairs of characters in the film whose relationship is more dramatic than the story of the sisters. For example, Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Princess of Spain, was originally the wife of Henry VIII's older brother Arthur. It was also a typical European political marriage, so when Arthur died, she married Henry VIII, who was eight years younger than her. There is also Catherine's daughter, Mary I, who is famous for cruelty in British history. She was abused by Anne Boleyn since she was a child and was forced to serve Anne Boleyn's daughter. Even her father Henry VIII was very cruel to her. It is precisely because of the various persecutions she suffered during her teenage years that Mary I's personality became extremely distorted when she grew up. After she became Queen of England, she executed more than 300 opponents in order to restore England from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism, and the title of "Bloody Mary" (Bloody Mary, also known as the witch) also came from this. And it was Anne Boleyn's only daughter who became Queen of England after her, the great Elizabeth I, the princess Mary I served as a child.
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