What movie or TV series do you believe most accurately portrays Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn ?
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Oooh, tough one. For Elizabeth, I loved "Elizabeth I" starring Helen Mirren and also "The Virgin Queen" starring Anne-Marie Duff as I thought they were so much closer to Elizabeth's story and Elizabeth's character than the movies starring Cate Blanchett.
Anne Boleyn is harder...I thought Genevieve Bujold was great in "Anne of the Thousand Days" and I thought that "The Tudors" did a great job with Natalie Dormer playing Anne. I know that "The Tudors" has loads of inaccuracies but it also has many accuracies that have been missed in other films and programmes, like that wonderful scene where Anne is begging Henry to listen to her while she has Elizabeth in her arms. I also thought that Anne's execution speech and execution were brilliantly done. I know that Anne is still presented as someone who contemplated murder etc. but I loved the way that Natalie Dormer showed Anne's feistiness, intelligence and ambition, all mixed with her vulnerability. Eric Ives describes Anne and Henry's relationship as "storm followed sunshine, sunshine followed storm" and I think that this was showed perfectly in "The Tudors".
What do you think?
What do you think?
Personally, I believe that Keith Michell is the definitive Henry VIII and Glenda Jackson is the definitive Elizabeth I in The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R PBS miniseries.
I also think that Genevieve Bujold was a great Anne Boleyn in Anne of a 1000 Days! I enjoy the others and love watching anything about Henry and his family, but I think these are the standard that others should set their performances by.
I thought both Natalie Dormner and Maria Doyle Kennedy did a fine job in the Tudors.
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I have to say Natalie Dormer embodied what I have read and what I believe to be Anne Boleyn. Just an amazing performance. Elizabeth, I love Cate as far as personality and demeanor but Helen …WOW….
It kills me to think the Tudors are done… I would have loved to see, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth
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I think Natalie Dormer did a WONDERFUL job as Anne.
I too would love to see The Tudors add a TV Movie/Mini Series on Mary, Edward & Elizabeth. I am so sad it ends so soon, they have done such a great job.
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My favorite Elizabeths? Oooo…tough. I’ll go with Cate Blanchett; Glenda Jackson; Helen Mirren and (going WAY back) Flora Robson (who played an older Elizabeth in both ‘Fire Over England’ with Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh, and ‘The Sea Hawk’ with Errol Flynn. I like Robson’s Elizabeth even better than her contemporary’s portrayal, that being Bette Davis).
Favorite Anne? Much easier: Genevieve Bujold of ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’, ‘The Tudors’ Natalie Dormer and Dorothy Tutin of The Six Wives of Henry VIII fame.
While I’m at it, my LEAST favorite Anne Is Henny Porten who played her in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1920 GERMAN production ‘Anna Boleyn’ aka ‘Deception’. I didn’t care for it at all, and it’s missing everything that made Lubitsch such a great comedic director (known for the “Lubitsch touch.”). I LOVE silent movies but was totally bored by Deception. Porten is on the homely side and spends most of the movie literally running from a bombastic Henry, played WAY over the top by the usually great German actor Emil Jannings. The wedding of Henry and Anne shows an Anne who looks like she’s heading for the chopping block she’s so completely miserable. The IMDB listing is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010962/; not sure the video is online, but you can see pics of Henny’s Anne at http://image.evene.fr/img/fiche/g/8266.jpg AND http://www.ebert-gedenkstaette.de/Bilder/Ebert/ebert_leben1919/49%20-%20Boleyn.jpg.
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Hi I have just visited your site for the first time and I think it is the most informative detailed site about Anne and her times that I have found. I am currently reading katherine the queen by Linda porter, a book about Katherine Parr and was wondering if anyone else had read this and what they thought
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I haven’t watched a lot of movies about Elizabeth, only the ones with Cate Blanchett, so I can’t give my opinion.
About Anne, I loved the Tudors, the way Natalie Dormer portrayed Anne, she was exactly the way I imagined her. I love all the little things they put in the script, for example her motto “Ainsi sera..” or a lot of her quotes.
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I agree with Mary Ann in that Keith Mitchell was, “Henry VIII” I could even place Keith’s voice with the King. Glenda Jackson played Elizabeth I to a tee and her character portrayal of the Queen satisfied my minds thought of Elizabeth….Natalie Dormer’s voice I can easily apply to my minds picture of what Annes’ voice could have sounded like. Elizabeth I was a strong woman, at moments in her life she came across as maybe a bit manly, where as Anne was all woman in all ways I believe anyway and Natalie’s portrayal of her is my best choice to date.
Good job Natalie……!!
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I believe that ‘The other Boleyn Girl’ portrayed Anne best. Yes, it was inaccurate in many areas but of course none of us truly knows what did go down in that time. But Natalie Portman was amazing at her part.
Every time I think of what Anne might of looked like or acted like I always picture her. Her reactions in the film were stunningly perfect! and her execution scene sent chills down my spine!
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I think Richard burton was the best Henry and that genevieve buljold was the best Anne .As for the best Elizabeth I can’t decide between Glendale Jackson and Cate blanchett
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Best Anne Boleyn has to be Vanessa Redgrave. She was fantastic, it was such a shame she had little screen time at all.
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Natalie Dormer’s portrayal of Anne was magnificent; especially the execution scene. Natalie showed such emotion in it; a woman about to die but trying to be brave and not break down. The moment she almost loses her battle and starts to cry but is able to stop is more than acting – to me it is reliving the moment. Anne must have felt like that on the scaffold. Close to breaking down but having the strength to refrain and die bravely and with dignity.
To bad we don’t have time travel; wouldn’t it be wonderful to send a video camera back to record important events so we could finally know what really happened. But then, it is also fun to let our minds wander and “feel” what we believe Anne and others would have felt as they lived their lives. I can’t imagine standing on a scaffold knowing I would never walk off it on my own, that in moments I would die a violent death and there was absolutely nothing I do to stop it, and the heartbreak of knowing I would never see my child again and she would be left surrounded by my enemies. Anne’s emotions must have been swirling in her mind and that she was able to stand and speak with dignity; and then kneel for the blow without breaking down is a testimony to her spirit.
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To me there is no Elizabeth but Glenda Jackson and no Anne but the remarkable and remarkably missed Dame Dorothy Tutin.
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