This movie was based on the highly successful TV series of the same name & like the TV series, it is a superb retelling of the Henry VIII story. I am only marking this down one star because trying to condense 6 hours of tv into a two hour film, makes the story come across as if it is on Fast Forward, & is far too quick. In this movie each of his wives (all with their own utterly fascinating stories!) only get around 12 minutes screen time, each. This could have worked for his queens who only had very short reigns like wives 3 - 6. But it is impossible to tell a detailed story of Catherine of Aragon who was 20 years married to him & Anne Boleyn who's courtship with Henry lasted almost 10 years & caused the massive historical break with the Church of Rome, in such a short space of time. However, this movie could be a superb introduction for young people wishing to learn about the reign of this amazingly compelling King of England. The script flows well & is not peppered with modern language. The direction is flawless & the costumes are "bullseye" spot on accurate. We even have a red head playing Catherine of Aragon (Queen Catherine of Aragon had red/ strawberry blonde hair) played by the excellent Frances Cuka (Hammer Horror) Where as most film makers today assume Catherine was dark haired as he was Spanish, which shows lack of research on their part. Yet in this all the wives are accurate except Anne of Cleves who did not have a face full of warts! Charlotte Rampling is awesome as Anne Boleyn except she has blue eyes & not Anne's famous, sexy dark eyes. Jane Asher was perfect for Jane Seymour. Lynne Fredrick was the same age as the real Catherine Howard & Barbara Leigh-Hunt was terrific as the older, widowed Catherine Parr. But very sadly non of these great actresses get the screen time they deserve. And once again Keith Michelle gives a sublime performance as Henry. In this movie we see him turn from a handsome, young athletic King, into the gross, obese, grumpy old man & wife murderer we all learned about in school.
In short this movie manages to cram 30 years into 2 hours, yet this movie is perhaps the most accurate telling of the six wives story, ever, despite leaving out huge chunks of real history. Tudor film makers today really need to take note & use this movie as the gold standard for Tudor movie making. I would also recommend people take a look at the original tv series which stars Annette Crosby as Catherine of Aragon, Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn, Anne Stalybrass as Jane Seymour, Elvie Hale as Anne of Cleves (my favourite!) Angela Pleasence as Catherine Howard & Rosalie Crutchley as Catherine Parr which is almost Shakespearian in depth. But this movie version is a terrific starting point.
In short this movie manages to cram 30 years into 2 hours, yet this movie is perhaps the most accurate telling of the six wives story, ever, despite leaving out huge chunks of real history. Tudor film makers today really need to take note & use this movie as the gold standard for Tudor movie making. I would also recommend people take a look at the original tv series which stars Annette Crosby as Catherine of Aragon, Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn, Anne Stalybrass as Jane Seymour, Elvie Hale as Anne of Cleves (my favourite!) Angela Pleasence as Catherine Howard & Rosalie Crutchley as Catherine Parr which is almost Shakespearian in depth. But this movie version is a terrific starting point.