Directed by Justin Chadwick. Written by Peter Morgan, based on the novel by Philippa Gregory.

Katherine of Aragon

• [to Anne and Mary] I am Katherine, Queen of England, the King's one true wife and mother of the heir to the throne. Beloved of the people, and beloved of a King you have bewitched.

Dialogue

Katherine of Aragon: [being led to court; stops in front of Mary and Anne] Well, if it isn't the Boleyn Whores. Two former ladies of mine. Hiding in shadows. What did I do to upset you, that you should turn against me like this?

Anne Boleyn: [nose in the air] You failed to give England an heir.

Katherine of Aragon: And that upsets you so?

Anne Boleyn: What upsets the King upsets me.

Mary Boleyn: Anne.

Anne Boleyn: I meant to come sooner. I'm sorry I did not. I've been kept occupied.

Mary Boleyn: So I hear: amusing the king.

Anne Boleyn: Only that sister, I assure you; despite his best efforts...

Mary Boleyn: What, and not yours?

Anne Boleyn: How is it?

[glances towards Mary's belly]

Mary Boleyn: The child is strong, gives me no rest, like his father.

Anne Boleyn: Do you feel as awful as you look? You know, in France, no woman would allow herself to get in such a state.

Mary Boleyn: Why did you come Anne, if all you desire is to torment me?

Anne Boleyn: Perhaps now you know how it feels: to be deceived by your sister.

Mary Boleyn: I did nothing.

Anne Boleyn: You stole the king away, and then you betrayed me over Henry Percy!

Mary Boleyn: If that's what you think fine tell yourself that!

Anne Boleyn: I did sister, every day and every night I was in exile.

King's Messenger: [Messenger walks in, holding a gift] A gift, from the king.

Anne Boleyn: Give it to my sister.

King's Messenger: It's for you mistress Anne.

Anne Boleyn: Me? Then send it back! Immediately!

[looks at Mary]

Anne Boleyn: How dare he! See? I have your interest at heart.

Mary Boleyn: Why? Why this cruelty? You know I love him.

Anne Boleyn: Well perhaps you should stop.

Sir Thomas Boleyn: Alright, now, open!

[advising Mary to open her eyes]

Sir Thomas Boleyn: I am to become an earl, your brother a viscount. In addition, we have received a number of new grants and estates, so are debts are paid and there's more: George, the king will arrange a match between you and Jane Parker.

George Boleyn: [frantic] I beg you father, no.

Sir Thomas Boleyn: I thought you had ambitions for this family. The girl is well connected, her fathers' cousin to the king.

George Boleyn: Must I actually marry her?

Sir Thomas Boleyn: Of course you must marry her. Have you no pride? Or would you rather leave everything to Mary?

King Henry VIII: [talking in secret] Your sister is gone as you wished. Will you give yourself to me now?

Anne Boleyn: No. When you are loyal to me above all others.

King Henry VIII: But I am.

Anne Boleyn: No. You are loyal to the queen above all others.

King Henry VIII: I barely see Catherine.

Anne Boleyn: But she sits on a throne beside you. Your right hand in matters of state.

King Henry VIII: For appearances-sake only.

Anne Boleyn: Still, she is your queen. And ever present.

[pauses]

Anne Boleyn: I feel her eyes on me. And those of her spies. Look at us. Forever reduced to meeting in secret like this. Speaking in whispers. Hardly conducive to passion.

King Henry VIII: What you have me do then?

King Henry VIII: What's so amusing?

Anne Boleyn: I was merely offering my thoughts on the new French king. With such great power, yet such meager authority as a man.

King Henry VIII: Continue.

Anne Boleyn: His pettiness is astounding. He will bear a mortal grudge at the mildest of slights. Spoiled cub with a spike in his paw. Riveted with resentment. Unable to forgive or forget. A great king, a great man rises above such things.

King Henry VIII: And what would you know of great men?

Anne Boleyn: I've read enough books and heard enough talk to believe I'd know one if he were before me.

King Henry VIII: Then look about you. I am curious. Do you see one here?

Anne Boleyn: Looking my lord... still looking, my lord.

[pause]

Anne Boleyn: [looking at the king] Ah! There. Found one.

King Henry VIII: [laughs to himself as the subjects in the room start to laugh]

Mary Boleyn: [in Henry's bedchamber] So, this is it?... Where the king of England sleeps?

King Henry VIII: And reads and writes. Finds a few moments each day to himself.

Mary Boleyn: [nervously] And yet you invite me here?

King Henry VIII: Because I like you and trust you.

Mary Boleyn: You hardly know me.

King Henry VIII: I am lied to a hundred times a day. Petitioned. Lobbied. One learns how to decipher a face.

[caresses Mary's face]

King Henry VIII: Yours is as the sun. One shouldn't gaze too long.

[pauses]

King Henry VIII: My flattery makes you uncomfortable?... Because compliments in your family are usually for someone else. The elder sister... That's something I understand. What it is to be the second child. Forever in the shadows... I'm making you uncomfortable again.

[Mary smiles, shaking her head as Henry leans in and kisses her]

Mary Boleyn: Mother, please! Speak to father... Do something... I don't want to go!

Lady Elizabeth: This is not a request. We have been summoned.

[gets up and leaves the room]

Mary Boleyn: [to Anne] Please don't be angry with me... You think I desired to go for this purpose?

Anne Boleyn: All I know is that a man who didn't know who you were was with you in that room for a half-hour and came out completely besotted!

[starts to leave]

Anne Boleyn: Don't know what you said or did!

Mary Boleyn: Nothing sister! Except sing your praises and talk about my husband.

Anne Boleyn: Really? Well, you must show me how you did that sometime!

[leaves the room]

George Boleyn: [about Henry Percy] He's betrothed.

Anne Boleyn: Betrothed is not married... It is a long way on bended knee to the altar.

Taglines

• The only thing that could come between these sisters... is a kingdom.

• Two sisters divided for the love for a king.

• In an age where a woman's destiny was determined by her father, one sister followed the rules. The other defied them.

• What if you could have everything you ever wanted? What if all you had to do was betray the sister you loved?

• They were the closest of sisters, until the most powerful man in the world made them rivals.

• They are sisters, and therefore, born to be rivals.

Cast

• Natalie Portman - Anne Boleyn
• Scarlett Johansson - Mary Boleyn
• Eric Bana - Henry VIII
• Jim Sturgess - George Boleyn
• Mark Rylance - Thomas Boleyn
• Kristin Scott Thomas - Elizabeth Boleyn
• David Morrissey - Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
• Benedict Cumberbatch - William Carey
• Oliver Coleman - Henry Percy
• Ana Torrent - Katherine of Aragon
• Eddie Redmayne - William Stafford
• Juno Temple - Jane Parker
• Iain Mitchell - Thomas Cromwell
• Andrew Garfield - Francis Weston
• Corinne Galloway - Jane Seymour
• Bill Wallis - Archbishop Cranmer