Of course there was no fool like Henry VIII, and no fool’s gold like desiring a male heir to the throne. He never did sire (a legitimate) one, but his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth, reigned powerfully for 45 years.
Of course, Anne Boleyn was only legitimate because she insisted that Henry would have to divorce his Catholic wife, Katherine of Aragon, in order to have her. Just shunting Katherine off to a nunnery would not be enough, because then she would still be the Queen. And so Henry does the unthinkable: he divorces his Queen, permanently breaking relations with the Catholic Church, and thus establishing, by default, the Church of England. Protestantism, here, could hardly be deemed a theological Reformation. But, as we all know, that’s not the end of the story.
Anne Boleyn, wife number two, was herself summarily dispatched, and Henry continues to act the fool because he had the gold: crown, that is.
The movie, and the book by Philippa Gregory upon which the movie is based, both take some historical liberties. It starts and stops with the Boleyn family, not bothering to finish the story about Henry’s other wives. But it makes for good (movie) theater for two of the most glamorous women currently in Hollywood to do this love/hate dance as sisters, jousting for the affection of the same man (in the Book of Genesis, see the twin sisters Rachel and Leah doing the same thing for Jacob’s affection).
Henry, portrayed by Eric Bana as a handsome philandering rogue, seems both obsessed and obsessive, completely ruled by his own desires, luxuries only a king can afford. Scarlett Johansson plays the older sister Mary as a willing pawn, but Natalie Portman’s Anne is at first intrigued, then rebuffed, and then returns from exile with a vengeance, clever and witty and manipulative and self-controlled and keeping her eye on the prize (the Queen’s crown). They are both lovely, but both tragically flawed, as are all those around them, including their duplicitous parents.
It would be a cheap tragic/comic soap opera in palace gowns if it weren’t substantially true. As it is, well, fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a rough ride with lavish costumes, dramatic performances, beautiful people, and the stink of corruption wafting down the corridors of absolute power.
Ronald P. Salfen is pastor of Grace Church in Greenville, Texas.
