ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS

Anne of the Thousand Days is a stoic opulent tribute to old England, a fading movie trend by 1969. British cinema was moving along with the unconventional approach of the New Hollywood and leaving grand historical epics behind, hence Camelot had done so poorly three years earlier. Nonetheless, this was a farewell to the old empire which would not be seen in its full glory again until Kenneth Branagh brought it back some thirty years later. Ironically, this straightforward telling of the story of King Henry VIII (Richard Burton) and Anne Boleyn (Geneviève Bujold) was released in the United States before it premiered in Great Britain.

            It is told in flashback, in 1536, with Anne Boleyn’s execution pending. King Henry looks remorseful but also wounded where it would have hurt him the most, his pride. Then, the film jumps forward to his first encounter with his young bride to be. Flashbacks were, of course, an old convention by 1969 and Anne of the Thousand Days brought little innovation along with its beauty.

            Richard Burton pushes life into this tired picture as the royal bluebeard. History has told of the atrocities committed under his reign, and yet, almost 500 years later, we still can’t bring ourselves to be outraged by this cad, at most putting him in context as a typical rogue ruler of the past. This is hardly unusual. Time distances us from tragedy so far into the safety of the future that it’s often difficult to judge the atrocities of the distant past objectively. But in Anne of the Thousand Days we get to know a ruler who believes himself capable even of commanding God.

            Then again, this was the Age of Men and a revealing exchange between Anne and her impoverished lover demonstrates that the question, “are you a virgin?” can be both answered and justified with the response, “I am a man.”

            King Henry wants her as his bride and the woman who will finally bare him a son. Her family knows better than to object but Anne is headstrong and dares to say no to the king, unlike her sister Mary (Valerie Gearon), who failed to produce a son. It’s obvious, though, that more than just the need for a son is drawing the king to Anne. She infatuates him and when winning her love becomes elusive, she becomes his obsession. Anne can control the king where he is most vulnerable, the heart. Even a king cannot control his infatuation or Anne’s response to it.

            Anne of the Thousand Days may or may not correspond to reality, but the movie attempts to understand King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in human terms, kingship aside. The characterizations are simplistic, especially that of King Henry VIII who is a decadent tyrant, but at least they are not reduced to stereotypes. Burton and Bujold help create an illusion of freshness in performances.

            The movie brings to attention just how forward a woman Anne Boleyn was. In a sense, she was one of the first businesswomen with the way she maneuvered her way to the crown in exchange for promising to give the king what he wants most, as soon as he annulled his marriage to his wife, Catherine of Aragon.

            Today Anne Boleyn would have been seen as an opportunistic tramp who became queen by pulling the strings of a love struck ruler, were it not for King Henry’s own barbaric womanizing practices.

            External forces prove how much is beyond King Henry’s control. The Spanish empire conquers Rome, leaving the Pope unable to annul the marriage. Gradually, King Henry loses his grip and sanity and his hearing with the cardinal is a farce. When he fails to have the annulment approved by the church, he uses his power to override the clergy, but in doing so creates makes an enemy of Rome. But he cannot stop, he must make Anne Boleyn the queen as he must have a son, so blinded by power is he. But the price he pays weighs heavy on the heart and he either alienates or orders the execution of many members of his court. The ultimate irony is that the child Anne does bring into the world after the ordeal is a girl.

            Anne, in a way, became just as evil as King Henry VIII when power went to her head, and ordered her own share of executions. Although she met her death at his order, Anne managed a revenge of sorts against her husband. She bore him a daughter who would grow into Queen Elizabeth and humiliated him. Being the first person to manipulate the king gave her a sense of unlimited power, and a deadly desire to prove it. Each of her demands was met, but she never realized that she was playing with fire, a discretion which led to her demise.

            As a human story Anne of the Thousand Days is energetic and entertaining. As the story of royalty losing control when infected with a virus as easily caught as infatuation and hunger for power, it holds some relevancy. As the last breath of the old Hollywood take on English history, Anne of the Thousand Days is a dusty looking bookend. It is well produced and well-acted, but it came too late to impress.