Anne Boleyn

It got a good write up in the weekend Financial Times, so I expect it is probably pretty good!

Lots of comment on this and it's not even been shown yet. I think the trailer looks good and I am looking forward to it,

As far I am aware England is in the continent of Europe...? ?

ayse It doesn’t alter the likelihood that AB was of European descent.
Have you researched her ancestors? I've always read that she was English.
Quote: She was probably born at Blickling Hall in Norfolk. Her father was Sir Thomas Boleyn, a minor courtier with a talent for foreign languages; he was of London merchant stock and eager to advance in the world. Like most men, he chose to marry well. His bride was Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the second duke of Norfolk and sister of the third duke.

Hithere, that’s so true but there is very little contemporary information re Anne Boleyn. Of course he had his opinion and there are portraits from the period that can be viewed differently. It doesn’t alter the likelihood that AB was of European descent.

Chapuys was the Spanish ambassador so I wouldn't expect him to have a very favorable opinion about her.

His view on her appearance was heavily impacted by the Spanish interest and "the matter", as it was called.

Chapuys writing at the time was not impressed with her physical appearance. She was considered to be rather charismatic at a time when ‘courtly love’ was all the rage. Flirting without any serious intentions.

More seriously, I prefer historical drama to be as realistic as possible with our very limited knowledge and seen in retrospect. If it’s anything like Netflix version of Mary Queen of Scots (an excuse for a sexual romp), I’ll give it a miss.

I can’t imagine Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King being portrayed by a white actor and I suspect there would be an uproar from the black community. As for Jesus, IMO he would have been of eastern Mediterranean heritage and therefore not blonde haired and blue eyed.

Having said all that, I hope the actor all the best for the project.

We don't really know what Anne Boleyn looked like. The only contemporary portrait we seem to have is that old coin.

Come on Chestnut we know who Jesus certainly didn't look like.
Anyway tonight is the night.

Both those are American productions and rightly or wrongly I suppose they choose actors who will attract audiences. I'm sure more effort would be made if we actually knew what Jesus looked like, but we don't. It was 2,000 years ago. We do know what Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I looked like.

Ewan McGregor as Jesus in Last Days in the Desert made in 2015. How much has changed in TV and movies since then?

Or how about The Young Messiah with English actor Adam Greaves-Neal as Jesus. Made in 2016 - has much changed since then.

Jesus of Nazareth was made 44 years ago and many things have changed in TV and movies since then!

We've had numerous people tell us how silly it would be to have a white man playing MLK so I think Whatdayisit is well within her rights to tell us about Jesus of Nazareth!

Whatdayisit

Well we accepted Robert Powell as Jesus of Nazareth and Ian McShane as Judas for long enough so what does it matter.

Well we've just had 17 pages of discussion here on why it matters, so the answer lies there. ?

I've never actually thought of Anne as scheming or manipulative. Or for most of her life as a victim.

She was intelligent, well educated, politically astute and impressed with the new (ish) teachings of Protestantism.

She knew what was expected of her, after all her sister had trodden a similar path before her, and actually had a son by Henry, at the age of 17.

Anne had the misfortune not to deliver a baby boy to Henry.

That led him to encourage trumped up charges to rid himself of her, and try with the next one.

He was a tyrant.

Mary Boleyn, or the whole Boleyn (it was spelt Bullen before they made it to court!) family are very interesting.
I should like to see a more about them, to be honest.

Well we accepted Robert Powell as Jesus of Nazareth and Ian McShane as Judas for long enough so what does it matter.

Ah yes, Elizabeth, their mixed race daughter.

Anne Boleyn's best 'revenge' was Elizabeth. I am looking forward to the programme i won't get to watch tomorrow night so will avoid the threads!!

We don't know what they felt for each other, though. There are letters from Henry to Anne, and scribbled notes in her book of hours that suggest that he did love her, and that she loved him.

Clearly he didn't love her at the end of her life, and that fits with the behaviour of someone with a narcissistic personality disorder - fall in love, then devalue the loved one, then discard them and move onto the next.

History has been keen to present Anne as scheming and manipulative, but historians are reassessing that rather misogynistic view, and seeing her as a victim of his personality disorder.

I see her as as much of a victim as the accused men. I'm looking forward to seeing the programme tomorrow - I hope it lives up to the expectations ?

Ilovecheese I don't think I would ever be bored by this story. It is universal in that is about love and about what happens when love is gone

It’s about lust actually. He wanted her and she refused. He was so used to having what he wanted, when he wanted, it drove him mad to be turned down. Once he’d got what he wanted, she was just another of his cast offs. The only thing that could save her was to give him a son and she failed (in his eyes). Her father and uncle, the Duke of Norfolk used her to further their aims and the poor men that were tortured into confessing were also tragic victims. Henry VIII was a monster. Most of those close to him were put to death on a whim.

Love didn’t feature in this piece of history at all.

Whatdayisit

Doodledog sorry if my post wasn't very clear/doesn't make sense. I intended it to mean that
'More nonsense from the Woke Brigade' is what the anti-Wokes would be saying.
In essence there should be less about Henry Viii and more about the brutality toward women over the Centuries but it would get dismissed as Woke rather than history.

Ah, I see. I misinterpreted your post, sorry.

Ah yes, thank you grumppa

Doodledog sorry if my post wasn't very clear/doesn't make sense. I intended it to mean that
'More nonsense from the Woke Brigade' is what the anti-Wokes would be saying.
In essence there should be less about Henry Viii and more about the brutality toward women over the Centuries but it would get dismissed as Woke rather than history.

Vincent Price was the Witchfinder, I think.

I seem to remember seeing a film about Mathew Hopkins when I was T school Witchfinder General, I think it was Richard Harris. Must Google!