No passion in 'Other Boleyn Girl'

With the right treatment, it could easily rank with the most visceral of Shakespearean stage plays. Chadwick's treatment merely goes to war with itself as a tawdry, R-rated bodice-ripper struggling to break the constraints of a PG-13 straitjacket.

Anne (Natalie Portman) and her married sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) have their relationship tested when their weak, greedy father (Jim Sturgess) agrees to pimp Anne out to the king.

Anne's uncle, The Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey), senses that King Henry (Eric Bana) is so desperate to have a male heir that he may be willing to sow the royal seed in an extramarital field.

He convinces Anne she can benefit herself and the whole family if she makes herself available to the king when he visits. She does, but Henry kicks her to the curb when he sees the very married Mary, who wants no part of violating her marriage vows.

Then her own mealy-mouthed husband (Benedict Cumberbatch) reluctantly throws in with the Duke and Dad. (This is definitely not a pro-male movie on any level.)

Henry puts the unhappy but obedient Mary into court where Queen Katharine of Aragon (Ana Torrent) instantly suspects her husband's unworthy intentions.

Meanwhile, Anne, after having an unapproved marriage annulled, gets shipped off to France where she apparently reads "The Rules" and learns how to capture any man by playing coy.

Back in England, Anne's flirty moves and constant coquettish refusals drive Henry into a testosterone tizzy, so much so that when the Pope refuses to dissolve his marriage, the king does the unthinkable: He breaks from the Catholic Church, dumps his queen, and puts England into a cultural and political spiral.

All for Anne, who revels in a shallow victory over her sister Mary, now cast aside by the uncaring king.

"The Other Boleyn Girl" is ultimately a story about the importance of sistership, a theme lost in Chadwick's busy attempt to create a larger-than-life drama from Philippa Gregory's novel, already adapted into a 2003 BBC-TV movie. (The Boleyn story was also explored in 1969's tepid "Anne of the Thousand Days," which lost nine of its 10 Oscar nominations. It won for costumes.)

For the first chapter, Portman conveys a convincing Anne, although she lacks the basic instincts of a Catherine Tramell in the final half of the film. Johansson downplays her natural glamour as the conservative Mary and brings a much-needed sense of decency to the amoral setting.

Aussie actor Bana looks the part of a rugged King Henry, but he tends to fade into the wainscot in the presence of his co-stars, especially Anne's appalled mother, Elizabeth, played with contained rage by Kristin Scott Thomas.

She advises Anne on "the art of being a woman," which she says is to let "men believe they are in charge."

In "The Other Boleyn Girl," men really are in charge, and they reveal themselves to be venal, predatory creatures masking their destructive wants behind titles and the trappings of power.

Chadwick doesn't seem to be so sure about all this. So, neither is his movie.

"The Other Boleyn Girl"

2 1/2 stars

The details

Starring: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jim Sturgess.

Directed by: Justin Chadwick

Other: A Columbia Pictures release. Rated PG-13 (sexual situations, violence). 120 minutes.