The Other Boleyn Girl (2003 film)

• 1. Introduction

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  The Other Boleyn Girl is a 2003 BBC television film that puts a lesser-known figure at the center of one of history's most famous royal dramas. Most people know the story of Anne Boleyn, the queen who lost her head at the Tower of London. Far fewer know the name of her sister, Mary. This film asks what it looked like to be the woman standing just behind the throne, pulled into the machinery of royal ambition by a family that saw its daughters as instruments of power.

  Directed and written by Philippa Lowthorpe, and adapted from Philippa Gregory's 2001 novel of the same name, the film follows Mary Boleyn as she is pushed into becoming the mistress of Henry VIII, watches her sister rise past her, and ultimately finds her way out. What did it cost a woman to survive the Tudor court? And what did survival actually look like when the alternative was the scaffold?

• 2. A Family's Bargain

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  Mary Boleyn enters the story already married to William Carey and serving as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon, the queen Henry has not yet managed to discard. The Boleyn family sees in Mary's closeness to the king an opportunity, and they force her to become his mistress. Her husband consents to the arrangement. That detail sits at the heart of what the film explores: women in this world had almost no power to refuse, even within their own marriages.

  Mary eventually comes to care for Henry. She falls in love with him, begins to enjoy their time together, and grows estranged from her husband as a result. She becomes pregnant by the king. But the family's calculation was always about status, not about Mary's happiness, and that calculation was about to shift entirely toward her sister.

• 3. Anne's Ascent

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  Anne Boleyn arrives at court with a scandal already attached to her name. She had fallen in love with Henry Percy and, despite Mary's warnings, consummated the relationship. Percy was already betrothed with royal consent, and the family feared it would damage Mary's position with the king. Anne was exiled to Hever Castle, the family's ancestral home, and declared she would never fall in love again.

  Her return to court is a study in controlled ambition. Where Mary had been openly affectionate with Henry, Anne turns down his advances deliberately, recognizing that desire grows stronger when it goes unsatisfied. The film frames this as a lesson she learned by watching her sister. Anne's intelligence and restraint capture Henry's attention in a way that Mary's open affection eventually could not hold.

  The stakes rise when Catherine of Aragon's divorce proceedings stall over a claim that Anne had a precontract with Percy. Facing ruin, Anne pressures Mary to deny any betrothal. Henry makes Anne swear she has loved no other man. She complies, and the marriage follows.

• 4. The Cost of the Crown

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  Queen Anne's reign is brief and volatile. She gives birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, and Henry's disappointment is visible. Two miscarriages follow. Anne grows increasingly desperate, aware that her hold on the king is weakening. She finds a pamphlet depicting her own decapitation. Facing what she believes is a plot to destroy her, she makes a request of her brother George that the film presents as an act of pure desperation: she asks him to father a child with her, to provide the male heir that might save her life. George, horrified, eventually consents when Anne begs him to save her.

  The pregnancy that follows is also lost. George and several other men are arrested on charges of treason and adultery. Anne is taken next. She addresses the king directly, reminding him that he once loved her, proclaiming her innocence, and asking God to have mercy on his soul. She sings a song to her daughter Elizabeth before being led away. Mary narrates the ending: George, Anne, and the others were beheaded.

• 5. Making the Film

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  The production worked with a budget of £750,000, which is modest for a period drama. Filming took place at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. Philippa Lowthorpe made choices that were deliberately unusual for the genre, using hand-held cameras and shooting some scenes in a straight-to-camera style that resembles a confessional video diary. Before cameras rolled, the cast spent four weeks in workshops improvising the script with the director, a process designed to make the performances feel lived-in rather than theatrical.

  The camera style divided critics. Stuart Jeffries of The Guardian noted that some previewers felt the film had the feel of what they called Peter Greenaway-lite, while he personally found the technique interfered with what he described as a gripping, well-written narrative. He compared it to NYPD Blue visiting Hampton Court. The film was released on DVD on the 6th of October 2008, following the theatrical release of the 2008 version of the same story.