Ray Winston brings history's most beguiling monarch to life in the Emmy award winning adaptation of Henry VIII Read more
| Starring | Ray Winstone, Helena Bonham-Carter, Sean Bean, David Suchet |
|---|---|
| Director | Pete Travis |
| Genres | Drama |
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Ray Winston brings history's most beguiling monarch to life in the Emmy award winning adaptation of Henry VIII
| Starring | Ray Winstone, Helena Bonham-Carter, Sean Bean, David Suchet, Emilia Fox, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, Michael Maloney |
|---|---|
| Director | Pete Travis |
| Studio | ITV DVD |
| Run time | DVD: 4 hrs 10 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 09 Dec 2004 |
| Format | DVD |
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I rented this mainly to see Helena Bonham Carter - after seeing her mesmerising performance as Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd, I was intrigued with the thought of her as Anne Boleyn. And I'm glad I did, because she is very good - in fact she's the best thing in this rather bizarre version of Tudor England. Her wilfullness and her vaunting ambition (to be Queen of England) come over very well. My only very small niggle would be that HBC was perhaps a little too old to play Anne.
Emilia Fox on the other hand, was perfect as Jane Seymour and Emily Blunt was gorgeous as Katharine Howard. David Suchet was wonderful as Cardinal Wolsey. Saving the 'best' (?) for last, we come to Ray Winstone as King Henry VIII: oh dear. Ray Winstone is fine when it comes to protraying vicious East End gangster types, but his performance as the King left me gasping at the awfulness of it. OK so they dyed his hair red and managed to make him resemble the famous portraits of Henry, superficially, but there any credibility ends. His accent was appalling! I acknowledge that we don't really know how Royalty spoke in Tudor times, but I'd bet my last Rollo that King Henry did not say 'fink' for think, or 'farver' for father, or that he kept shrieking at his minions 'Shut up!' , complete with glottal stops. If Mr Winstone had any voice coaching at all for this role - well, he should have had more lessons, a lot more. It was so bad that, for myself, I lost any sense of drama in the familiar but ever interesting story and I just sat and waited for Mr Winstone's next linguistic faux pas. The script was indifferent too, full of howlers and verbal anachronisms, the best of which, for me occurred in the scene where Jane Seymour has persuaded the King to allow his elder daughter, Princess Mary Tudor to come to Court. I can't recall the actresse's name but she obviously attended the same voice training school as Mr Winstone, as she said to Emilia Fox's Jane Seymour something like: 'Fank you, I know me being brought back to Court is dahn to you' - very 16th century....I don't know how an actress of the quality of Ms Fox could keep a straight face. Likewise HBC/Anne Boleyn in her many scenes with Essex boy Henry.
If you want to see a drama about Henry VIII and his six wives I suggest you have a look at the Keith Michel series from several decades back - it's much better. I give this three stars only for the splendid acting of Ms Bonham Carter and Ms Fox and Mr Suchet. Mr Winstone? Nul point!
Hollywood beauty Scarlett Johansson is set to play Anne Boleyn's sister Mary in the period drama The Other Boleyn Girl. The adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's popular historical novel has also attracted the interest of a number of major A-list actors. Natalie Portman will play Anne Boleyn, who eventually steals the affections of Henry VIII, played by Eric Bana, away from her sister. The film looks likely to be a hit as it is to be directed by Justin Chadwick, whose previous work includes the Emmy- Read more