The one that survived. I really only used to take an interest in historical costume dramas if the Musketeers were featuring in it. I could still watch Michael York and Oliver Reed theoretically and actually sparring at any point, even today.
It was only when my ex-wife made me sit through Anne of the Thousand Days thirty years ago that this overtly coiffured nonsense held any resonance. Ever since, I am still not exactly addicted to the genre, but I will make time for it because there is something gloriously gluttonous about the monarchical orgy of Tudor excess, the wanton bourgeois avarice, more brutal in its very reality than Game of Thrones ever dared to be, even fictionally.
It is the mid 1500's and Henry VIII is abroad, in France. His sixth, and final, wife Catherine Parr has begun to travel beyond the palace gates at times, to spend moments with her friend Anne Askew, a poet and protestant preacher. This is done in secret, save for her ladies in waiting, as Askew is believed to be a heretic. When Henry returns and news of these dalliances are rumoured and then proven, the ailing Kings' anger becomes all too realised.
These events are played out here in sumptuous detail with an eye on performance and authenticity, both of which are stunning to witness at times. More thriller really than biopic, this hints at one possible but entirely unproven ending.
Jude Law, almost unrecognisable as Henry VIII, is brilliant as the boorish, paranoid King and Alicia Vikander perfect for the seemingly obedient wife with a mind of her own she would be careful with whom to share.
In danger of outstaying its welcome at slightly over two hours without really too much to say about a period of less than a year, this maintains interest throughout, if not always quite on the edge of the seat, but what it lacks perhaps in exposition, keeping it as close to history rather than fantasy, the performances themselves make up for any shortfall.
A film for those of a certain niche taste, certainly, it will not please everyone, nor does it intend to. But if you have a mind for it, this is most defintely worth a watch.
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