since no one has started a thread of comparison, which anne does everyone feel more accurate? i tend to think this anne is more true to the real anne. don't get me wrong, 'the tudors' anne is gripping to watch, but she almost seems weak in character, which to me would seem weak in intelligence, too self-serving in comparison to anne of 1000. thoughts?
serva me, serva bote
She looks as I imagine Anne did, all dark hair and flashing black eyes.
And I think she captured Anne's bold, feisty spirit brilliantly.
Natalie always has that annoying smirk on her face, and comes across as cold.
And don't even get me started on the blue eyes...
Banana hammock!
I was always a partisan of Katharine of Aragon, and detested Anne Boleyn for her role in persecuting Katharine and Mary (and she definitely did have a role in that).
It was Bujold's performance as Anne that made me take a second look and begin to have some sympathy for her.
Natalie Dormer's Anne was a conniving witch with few redeeming qualities. The real Anne also had that quality, but it was not her only characteristic.
I think Genvieve Bujold's portrayal is more factual, although the character as written does not depict Anne's political machinations, her concern for the poor (she wanted the revenues taken in the dissolution of the monasteries used for the poor), and her activism in promoting the New Learning and the English Bible.
Anne did not choose Henry, as everyone knows. He ordered Wolsey to break up her relationship with Harry Percy, whom she probably loved, because he (Henry) was interested in her. She could not refuse her sovereign's interest for fear of her own and her family's security. What Henry wanted, he usually got. But, Anne did not make it easy. Because he had already bedded her sister Mary, he must have thought Anne would also be an easy mark, but she surprised him and held him off for 7 years, because she would not be his mistress; she held out for marriage, as any prudent highborn woman of that time would have. As proof of her fascination for Henry, he actually acceded to her wish, divorcing the daughter of the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella,keeping himself from other women, going into schism with Rome,executing anyone including former friends who disagreed with his actions, and in the thinking of the time, putting his immortal soul in danger.
However shortly after getting what he wanted from Anne, followed by the birth of a daughter, Elizabeth, instead of the much desired son and two miscarriages, Henry found he really didn't like the wife he had moved heaven and earth to win. She had a mind and opinions of her own and no restraint in expressing them, and was far from the submissive mate Henry liked his women to be, although, contrary to what many people think, she wouldn't have understood feminism.
The second miscarriage spelled Anne's doom. It is almost certain that the charges of incest and adultery were trumped up. Would a woman who apparently had her passions so under control that she kept a King (who was known to be used to having what he wanted NOW) dangling for seven years, and who had waited that long to be queen reveling so in the power that office gave her risk losing all that she had gained for uncontrolled lust? I don't think so.
In any case, Bujold who is of French ancestry and in complexion similar to that of the historical Anne seems truer to the descriptions of Henry's second Queen. Her French accent (Anne had served years as a lady in waiting in France and was said to have French manners and an accent upon her return), makes the character seem even more authentic.
"..sure you won't change your mind? Why, is there something wrong with the one I have?"
Genvieve is the closest we will ever get to seeing the real Anne Boleyn.
Natalie Dormer does a lovely job - but she can't touch Bujold's performance.
I certainly prefer this anne - but I think she is portrayed in a more sympathetic light than the anne in 'the tudors'. This anne does not set out to seduce henry for her family's profit, and appears to be genuinly in love with percy. I understand this wasn't actually the case - though I've always thought that anne boleyn is one of the more interesting characters in english history.
I actually find anne in 'the tudors' pretty annoying...
Also there's the anne in 'the other boleyn girl' - an even more unsympathetic portrayal of anne?
I like both Anne's the same. Personally, I find Natalie's portrayal more accurate in some ways, where as others I find in Genevieve, but don't get me wrong. If I had a choice between Anne of the Thousand Days and The Tudors, I'd pick Genevieve's portrayal hands down because it's more of a romance. But the Tudors catches the entire field of what was going on then, and not just Henry and Anne.
[just my opinion]
I watched Anne of a Thousand Days tonight, and I am so disappointed with Showtime, as even down to lines of the actors, they have just updated this film with new actors!
I dont typically write on message boards, but I "was" such a avid fan of The Tudors, that I actually wrote to Showtime, as there seems to be little to no creativity in The Tudors now after watching this movie!
I have read a ton on Henry and his court and THIS Anne is pretty close to what historians say about the woman's character. Another good Ann was Charlotte Rampling in the BBC Keith Mitchell film Henry the eighth and his six wives...she REALLY looked the part and acted the part of Ann too. The Tudors....er no!
But Genieve is my favorite and BEST Ann thus far on film,tv or theatrical fil,!
Genieve is without doubt the best Anne. Whenever I think of Anne Boleyn I think of Genieve Bujold. It's years since I saw the film but her portrayal of Anne made such an impression on me. Natalie Dormer doesn't come anywhere near - even when she's acting well.
This Anne...without a doubt. GB's Anne is spirited, pretty and vivacious. Everything you imagine Anne to be. It's a terrific performance from the actress.
I do however think that Natalie Dormer's Anne is good.
she wasn't as pretty as either of those women, not if you look at the paintings or read the contempoary descriptions.
she was very smart though.
I have an opinion when people say that this or that person from history was not physically attractive. What we consider 'beautiful', even people's general appearance changes over time. People in the 1500's simply did not look like people of today. My gosh, people from the 1900's don't look like people today! I'm sure that Anne, a woman who changed the course of history simply because a king wanted to bed her, was a beautiful woman in her time. To cast someone who looks like some 500 year old portrait would be like comparing apples and oranges. I think the idea is to cast the essence of what that person represented (both physically and in character) in their historical time.
Just my opinion.
The historical Anne Boleyn wasn't even in her own time thought to be particularly physically attractive from contemporary written descriptions of her,(she was said to be 'dark' which makes Bujold's Anne more believable) but she was said to have had remarkable eyes (which Bujold also has), and a lively engaging manner and wit.
There is no known authenticated portrait of Henry's second queen; the same is true for his second beheaded Queen (and 5th wife), Catherine Howard.That makes sense in view of the fact that both women died disgraced. The only 2 representations that depict Anne are on a coin on which her image has been defaced (nothing but the shape of her face can be discerned), and a miniature inside a ring worn by her daughter, Elizabeth I. While the latter is identified as Anne, it was not made during her lifetime, and it is therefore unreliable as a true likeness.
"..sure you won't change your mind? Why, is there something wrong with the one I have?"
I prefer Genevieve's Anne but I do think Natalie's is more accurate. Gen's Anne is more sympathetic and is like an unwilling accomplice in everything. Natalie's Anne is more human and flawed; you see her vindictiveness and slight psychological breaks. Natalie's death scene was much better than Gen's though.
"... have mercy, for I've been bleeding a long time now"-Michael Jackson
I love them both, and I think they are now tied in my mind, I used to think no one would ever make me love their performance the way Genevieve made me love hers.
"A prince should never flinch from being blamed for acts of ruthlessness"
-Elizabeth
[deleted]
This is a hard one for me. I love them both for different reasons. Since their scripts are different the actors portrayed them so differently. I love Natalie Dormer. I think she was well matched with JRM in the tv show. But this Anne GB's Anne is more sympathetic. I like them both. Since they are from such different times you really can't compare the two.
Angela
E-mail: [email protected]
I think this Anne is more accurate to the descriptions I've read of the real Anne Boleyn. Pretty, vivacious, ferociously intelligent, opinionated, arrogant, grasping. The only part of Anne most portrayals miss is her learning and piety. Anne was said to have helped influence Henry with new religious ideas that she had been reading. I think that the Tudors Anne is far too brazenly sexual to be a good Anne.
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