Firebrand - Review

Rating: 3 out of 5

BRAZILIAN filmmaker Karim Ainouz makes his English-language debut with Firebrand, a fresh take on Tudor history that takes a revisionist and somewhat contentious approach to its subject matter.

Where most films tend to focus on Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn or Catherine Howard, given the notoriety of their fates, Firebrand examines the relationship between Henry and the last of his six wives, Katherine Parr. It is based on the 2013 novel Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle, whose writing is renowned for focusing on women and power.

Hence, Ainouz's film - based on a script adapted by Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth - focuses on Parr, played by Alicia Vikander, as she navigates the final days of Henry's life. The king is played by Jude Law.

It begins while Henry is away leading his army in France, while Katherine is acting as regent in his absence. Yet while trusted by her husband, Katherine takes some big risks associated with her religious beliefs, even going so far as to meet a former friend, Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), who is preaching Protestantism and runs the risk of being executed as a heretic.

As rumours spread of Katherine's views, and Henry returns, those who would conspire against Katherine begin mounting evidence against her: most notably, Bishop Gardiner (Simon Russell Beale), who views her beliefs as dangerous and determines to have her removed.

Yet with a pregnancy in the mix, as well as Henry's continued admiration for Katherine making her removal more difficult, Gardiner has to tread carefully in order to keep himself away from Henry's ire - particularly as the king is becoming increasingly ill from a leg wound sustained during jousting, as well as paranoid in the wake of his other failed marriages.

As you'd expect from any story associated with the reign of Henry VIII, there is plenty of blood and intrigue on display, much of which ties in to what is already known about both Henry and Katherine, as well as the people surrounding them.

It's also refreshing to find a story that's prepared to focus more on the end of Henry's rule, and a later wife, rather than the arguably more famous figures that regularly populate movies and TV about him (from Wolf Hall to The Other Boleyn Girl via A Man For All Seasons).

In doing so, Ainouz does manage to shed some deserved light on some of Katherine's undoubted achievements as a woman in her time - most notably, the success of her book writing and the way in which she actively and successfully improved Henry's relationship with his three children.

But the film also takes some pretty big swings and deviates from known history in some pretty big ways: most notably a final act that makes Katherine complicit in Henry's death and by having their relationship appear so volatile. According to other noted historians and authors, Henry was actually kinder to Katherine than he was to many of his other wives, while also extremely protective of any of his wives who became pregnant. Firebrand suggests otherwise in certain scenes between Law and Vikander.

The film's overtly revisionist approach is sure to divide audiences - and could even be accused of misleading for those not already expert in Tudor times. It does feel strange as a creative choice, ill advised if completely untrue and disdainful, therefore, of history.

And it undermines an otherwise solid, occasionally riveting film.

That being said, there is still much to admire. The period detail is typically lavish, while it's refreshing to see a warts and all portrayal of late stage Henry VIII, complete with seeping, pussy wounds (the odiousness of which is vividly recreated).

And the performances are uniformly good, with Law outstanding as the tyrannical king, still capable of showing love, but equally haunted by his past misdeeds and his raging, infatuated desire to bear a viable male heir.

Vikander is equally compelling as Katherine - composed, resolute and yet capable of dealing with those who would conspire against her, while still showing the fear inherent in being one of Henry's wives (given their fates).

And Russell Beale is suitably devious as the meddling Gardiner - doing justice to the type of role that many a great British thespian (from Mark Rylance to Jonathan Pryce) have revelled in before.

Hence, while deeply flawed given its controversial approach to its subject matter, Firebrand still keeps viewers hooked - even though they should be mindful of where it eventually takes them.