I am still watching the show, but am disappointed in the women who play the Bolyn sisters. I can't believe King Henry would fall in love with women who are, well sorry, but a bit homely. It's a bit slow moving and as I have watched many a show on this subject, can't help but feel it could have been done much better. Do not mind the hand held camera, and low budget, I believe that is always a good idea!

This movie twists the facts of Anne and Mary's lives into something unrecognizable. To make Mary Boleyn, who in fact was a rather dim and foolish creature, and make her the "good" sister is just silly. It is Anne who was in fact the far more interesting character, and that is why it is her life, and not Mary's, that has been told so often.In response to an earlier review, I fail to see how Anne's life was so "criminal"... to me it's Henry who was the real criminal. Whatever Anne's motives for winning the king and withholding her affections in order to gain a crown and husband has to be taken into context of the time in which these real-life events took place. Anne, in comparison to the majority of most of the courtiers in her time, was a relatively innocent figure. Most modern historians discount or have disproven most of the myths and slanders that this movie perpetuate about her, and I have never heard of anyone who actually believes the rumour than she slept with her brother. This movie is so sensational and false that it is maddening to think that someone, without knowing anything about this period in history, could walk away believing anything this movie has presented as "fact".I won't even get into the weird filming of the movie... but I'm pretty sure that cameras weren't invented in the 16th century, so I don't understand why Anne and Mary are talking to one throughout the movie... it's a really bad plot devise and is jarring and annoying, to put it mildly.Anne of the Thousand Days is not accurate either, but is infinitely more entertaining and at least comes closer to telling the story of one of the most intriguing women of history. Don't even think about renting this.. it's two hours you'll never get back!

I have mixed feelings about this film. I appreciated the use of color, it represents the harshness of the time. It's a nice change to see a period piece that's not glamorous. I can imagine it's tempting to make the good looking cast even better looking. The confessions in the camera I didn't understand. I do understand it was anattempt to make it more intimate. But I don't think it workout that well here. I consider it to modern. It works in comedy like 'the private life of Samuel Pepys'. There it was brilliant. Maybe they could've used a confession setting for these scene's instead of putting them into a room speaking to the camera. And usedmore close-ups instead of medium shots. That would make it more intimate anddramatic. The acting is superb! I enjoyed to see Jodhi May paying a wicked woman for achange. She portrayed Anne Boleyn very good Her sick and cruel pleasure totorture her family by for example trying to marry of her sister to a fat ugly man. Her frightening ambition and abuse of power is portrayed brilliantly. The actor who played Henry and the actress who played Mary were alsobrilliant. The rest of the cast were very complementary to the leading ladies and man.Very good. This is not a story about one person. It's about relations between people. This movie explains why Mary survived.This is really a film worth wile seeing. But don't expect to see a conventional historical epic. Voted 8A-M ---- English is not my first language so please excuse my spelling and grammarerrors

If this sets the new direction for period dramas, then I'm all for it! Gone are the stuffy mannerisms and cookie-cutter direction. In comes a new era of BBC costume drama, even with the oh, so familiar face of Jodhi May. MY how we've never seen her in just this way before! Heaving bosoms and lustful swaggers and I was HOOKED in the first fifteen minutes! I SO HOPE it is released to DVD!!! The story of Anne Boleyn is known far and wide, but I don't think it's ever been told from the perspective of what it must have been like to be a young woman in those ruthless times. And Anne was ruthless, there's no doubt about it. However, the beauty of this production is that it sheds light on *why* she maneuvered herself the way she did. The mother of England's greatest queen, Elizabeth I, had to have a lot of chutzpah to not only gain the king's favor, but keep it - and his sexual desires - at bay for years before bagging him and the crown as her own. This adaptation really makes one wonder what the country would have been like had she only managed to bear a male heir, and hence, keep her head.BRAVO BBC!