(DEUX SOEURS POUR UN ROI)
Justin Chadwick's first big-screen outing sees him taking on Tudor history in his adaptation of Philippa Gregroy's novel. Eric Bana (Chopper) is the young Henry VIII, desperate for a son. Politics is reduced to sex, so the Howard family, scheming nobles to a man, seize their chance, sending Mary and Anne Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson and Nathalie Portman) to seduce the King. Kristin Scott Thomas as Elizabeth Boleyn (née Howard) is left as the voice of twentieth-century feminism, criticising this male exploitation of female bodies. The marriage of political thriller and historical bodice-ripper is not entirely happy. The reformation is dismissed in a line of dialogue, the international repercussions barely mentioned, and whilst sets and costumes look wonderful, the cinematography is very self-conscious, distracting attention from the story.

 DR