Anne of the Thousand Days (1969, UK)

Here's another one of those movies that it seems like I should have seen by now. It's one of Jennifer's favorites and it's about Tudor England. My kind of movie.

As far as portrayals of Anne Boleyn go, I thought this one was pretty good. She was shown as a strong, self-willed woman who wasn't going to let anyone tell her what to do, be he king or kin. That's the norm for her character I guess, but I thought that Geneviève Bujold did an exceptional job with this facet. However, I thought her relationship with the Earl of Northumberland could have been significantly strengthened. They seemed to be in love, but she gave up quite easily. Her relationship with Mary was also non-existant, but I guess we come to expect otherwise with the recent release of The Other Boleyn Girl.

The casting of Richard Burton as Henry VIII seems so obvious. Don't get me wrong, he was okay, but I just don't think he pulled it off, charisma-wise. (Come to think of it, I can't say that anyone has done Henry justice; perhaps Burton does come the closest.) The chemistry between Bujold and Burton was weak, I thought, so that didn't help matters.

Otherwise, this film was exactly what you'd expect of such an undertaking. Often oversimplified and cliched, but still entertaining. The "thousand days" of the title were quickly glossed over too. Most of the film was the courtship, then Elizabeth was born, then she was 3 and Anne was executed. Those 1000 days just flew right by! Anne apprently sacrifices herself so that Elizabeth won't be a bastard; she's all nobility and craziness. (Oh, how historical aftersight can futher dramatize these things!) I thought it was overdone, though well done. Then there was the ending, where young Elizabeth hears the cannons signalling her mother's death, and she goes walking off into the garden, away from the camera. Quite corny, but still touching. I appreciated that this filmmaker didn't feel the need to put an awful caption beneath the image of the toddler.

One more note: The score to this film was composed by Georges Delerue, who I am very familiar with, since he composed a boatload of scores for François Truffaut. It was a bit over the top, as his scores often are, but it fit quite well.

Overall, entertaining if taken a bit too quickly and with less emotion than this story requires. (It was not the "passionate and shocking love story" of the tagline.)

Rating: 3.5