Tudor, or not Tudor. That is the question in “Firebrand,” a revisionist royal portrait of Henry VIII’s last wife, Katherine Parr (played here by Alicia Vikander), that features all the pageantry yo…
), that features all the pageantry you’d expect from a lavish costume drama, while showing the ahistorical audacity to call “Time’s Up” on the gluttonous king . Never mind that Henry VIII died — of very different causes than the movie depicts — all of 476 years ago. When it comes to art, there’s no statute of limitations on taking toxic masculinity to task, which can be both encouraging and frustrating.
He had two of his wives beheaded, and kept his sixth — as well as most of the court — on their best behavior by allowing them to believe that they could be next to have their necks and/or lives shortened. Far from any fairy tale, Aïnouz’s film begins not “once upon a time” but “in a blood-soaked and rotten kingdom” where “history tells us a few things, mostly about men and war.
But if “Firebrand” is to believed, “the one who survived” was actually Henry’s greatest threat. The story begins while Henry is abroad and Katherine is standing in as his regent. Challenging church authority, she sneaks away to visit Anne Askew , a controversial Protestant preacher and longtime friend whose thoroughly modern sermon seems to be preaching directly to the converted among the film’s audience.
A whole crop of recent projects about the British monarchy — and especially Princess Diana — has tried to reshape the public’s understanding of that outdated institution, but in the year 1546, when “Firebrand” takes place, the king was still perceived as a divine figure. Henry had broken with the Roman Catholic Church over their refusal to grant an annulment of his first marriage, and now he and his religious advisers worried that Protestant reformers might undermine the entire system.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Alicia Vikander on ‘Firebrand’s’ Rarely Told Henry VIII Story: ‘What’s Mostly Dramatized Are the Wives That Didn’t Make It’ (EXCLUSIVE)In Britain, schoolchildren learning about Tudor history are taught a handy rhyme to remember the order of King Henry VIII’s six wives: “Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived.” Holl…
Read more »
Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander & Producers Of Buzzy Market Title ‘Night Boat To Tangier’ Touch Down In Cannes For Exclusive Buyers Event Hosted By Hyde Park InternationalEXCLUSIVE: The rain in Cannes managed to stop for a few hours on Saturday when Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park International hosted an exclusive event for buyers on the Croisette for its upcoming …
Read more »
New Henry Ruggs video shows man begging for help: ‘He plays for the Raiders’Newly released video in the wake of the fatal collision involving former Raiders star Henry Ruggs shows a man begging for help for Ruggs.
Read more »
Police release body-cam video of Henry Ruggs III wreckHenry Ruggs III is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 9 to between three and 10 years of incarceration by the Nevada Department of Corrections, without the possibility of parole or appeal, under the terms of the agreement.
Read more »