historical novel often take liberty with history while it expect . and screenplays often take liberty with novel while also expect . and historical screenplay base on historical novel . hmmm . predictably and then and this movie take huge liberty with historical fact and phillipa gregory historical fiction and and that be not a good thing . firstly and event take place over a number of year be condense . mary rise to anne fall appear to be over a maximum of about three year in the film . event that do not occur be create to add drama but they have a bad effect on the narrative ( eg . mary pleading with the king to spare anne and the king last minute note warn mary not to do so again just before anne be execute ) . and key real ( or at lease report ) event be cut and despite the inherent dramatic effect ( eg . anne use of the young elizabeth to appeal to henry and henry desert anne during a tournament without a goodbye ) . secondly and despite the cumbersome and heavy hand exposition by just about every character and the movie fail to convey the harsh reality of court life in the tudor period and where one progress up the ladder or descent to the scaffold could be the result of either or both intricate plot by rival courtier or simply the king mood . thirdly and the overall characterisation be pitiful . oh and anne have one or two moment and but what about the other character . mary be portray a weak and and despite the movie name and seem to be only a foil for anne . where be mary triumphant courtship with henry and where be the proof that she be a worthy rival of anne ( eg . the ship name in her honour ) and mary romance with stafford be so lacklustre a to be unbelievable . queen katherine be leave on the sideline for most of the movie ( except for her magnificent display of queenly outrage before the court when her marriage be call into question ) . the young men in the movie be almost indistinguishable stafford and carey and george boelyn all have so little screen time and look so much alike and the director could have save money by have one actor play all three part . and lastly and a little bit of costume research would not have go astray .