Thursday 20 December 2012

Henry VIII and His Six Wives

As a History graduate it's probably no surprise that I'm a massive fan of the Tudors, and recently I've been watching a lot of movies about Henry VIII and his six wives. Tonight I watched Anne of the Thousand Days starring Geneviève Bujold and Richard Burton. It recieved ten Oscar nominations but only won for Best Costumes, which it certainly deserved. Though innacurate it was a wonderfully entertaining film and Geneviève Bujold's performance was truly amazing, I would say she and Natalie Dormer are my favourite Anne Boelyns, of course Natalie Dormer did have two seasons of The Tudors to show off her performance.

 
Geneviève Bujold portrayed an Anne who managed to be sultry, sweet, tempermental, fiery, passionate, ruthless and yet tragic. She was willing to sacrifice whoever she had to not just for her own power but for that of her blood's as well, refusing to see Elizabeth be declared a bastard. She loathes Henry at first but then comes around to him only to ironically have him turn for her. Towards the end she counts out the thousand days of their relationship, remarking that they were only truly in love for one day, or rather in sync with their love for one day. Though many of her poignant scenes are fictionalised (the court scene in which she questions the witness/accused, and the scene in which Henry visits her in prison) Geneviève delivers her lines in such a moving manner, one can believe that maybe the real Anne would have said these things if given the chance, although it is highly unlikely that she ever thought Elizabeth would be queen.
Anne, like Henry, in this film, for me was a character almost contradictive, switching from passionate to cruel, and loving to indifferent with a snap of fingers, and yet it's believeable, Henry and Anne were two similar and yet opposing forces, their passion burned them both and in the end Anne demanded too much and gave too little to Henry for it, effectively bringing about her own end.

In Henry VIII and His Six Wives (the 1972 version) Charlotte Rampling gives us a sultry, cheerful, daring and riskful Anne. She amuses Henry but displeases him by her open mockery of Cardinal Wolsey (who Anne was known to hate) during a dance, and drives him to paranoia and anger with her casual flirtations. This film rushes through Anne and Henry's relationship, as it is a film there is limited time for each wife, though Anne, Jane and Catherine Howard get more screen time that Catherine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Parr. Charlotte gives us a bright eyed, seductive, coy and clever Anne who unfortunately was not clever enough to keep her throne or life.

In the same film Lynne Frederick portrays probably the most sympathetic version of Catherine Howard, Henry's Rose Without a Thorn, who was probably between 15 and 18 when Henry wedded her, whilst he was an old, fat man at this point with an infected leg that had him continously in pain. Lynne's Catherine is somewhat shallow and greedy, desiring many trinkets and pets, but she is kind enough to suggest that either Anne of Cleves or Mary have a puppy, and she does seem genuinely affectionate towards Henry. When she realises her death is coming, she is brave, refusing to admit adultery, though seemingly breaking and admitting previous relationships prior to Henry and murmuring about being influenced by her uncles, which she most certainly was. This Catherine is also accurately shown unable to read and it is suggested that she was certainly fond of Henry's servant Thomas Culpeper.

In the ITV production of Henry VIII Helena Bonham-Carter gives us a tempestuous Anne, like Geneviève's she is quick to put Henry in his place, showing her displeasure at her broken off relationship with Henry Percy and Henry's use and abuse of her sister Mary Boleyn. She is curt but loving but alas when Henry loses his affections of her she can do nothing to win them back.

A young Emily Blunt portrayed Catherine Howard in the same production, a youthful queen she is easily led astray by her uncle and lady-in-waiting suggesting she has an affair to get with child. Her wandering eye draws her to Thomas Culpeper and she dies for her folly, shown inaccurately as terrified and crying.

The Tudors features Natalie Dormer as Anne in its first two seasons, pushed by her father to win power for herself and her family, she finds herself falling for Henry despite being cautioned against her. Seductive, charming, powerful, ruthless and venegeful, she sees her enemies punished and herself to the throne. Her relationship with Henry is so strong that he wavers over executing her before finally giving in, though he had no qualms about accusing many of his own friends of bedding her. Dormer seems a firm favourite with fans as Anne Boelyn presenting her a strong, confident, ambitious and yet sympathetic queen, like her equally tragic cousin Catherine Howard, she was a pawn to her relatives, though unlike Catherine she had enough time and cunning to wrestle power for herself and work for her own self-interest. Ultimately, she is a victim of love, ambition and the wandering eye of a disinterested husband who began to realise he had sacrificed his friends for a woman his country hated who could not give him a son.

Unfortunately, I've yet to see the other seasons of The Tudors so I cannot comment on the portrayals of the other wives, only their beautiful costumes, although as you can gather by this article it is really Anne and Catherine who hold my interest.

One wonders if Anne had given Henry a son would she have lived on as his only wife or would he still have lusted after other women driving her to an envy that would turn her angry to the point of being removed still? Perhaps he might have only divorced her, or they might have learned tolerance with his affairs. Given his devotion for Jane, it's possible that he might have held Anne with the same high regard if she had given him a living son. Of course as we all know, irony would have it that the daughter she gave him who seemed unlikely to ever see the throne was the greatest monarch England would know, Queen Elizabeth I.