Film Review — Firebrand
A so-so speculative drama about Henry VIII’s final wife Katherine Parr buoyed by strong performances from Alicia Vikander and Jude Law
Historians are likely to have their feathers ruffled by the ending of Firebrand, a new film from Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz about the final wife of Henry VIII, Katherine Parr. The excuse for such dramatic liberties is explained in an unconvincing pseudo-feminist prologue, with words to the effect that history only teaches about men and wars, and that we have to speculate about the rest. I’m all for not letting inconvenient facts get in the way of a good story, but it’s a bit of a stretch to say we know nothing about history except men and wars. However, it’s not as nonsensical as the postscript, noting that the reign of Elizabeth I didn’t concern men or war. Er, what about that little business with the Spanish Armada? What about Sir Walter Raleigh, Walsingham, and so forth?
Such reductive and pointless attempts at hectoring revisionism aside, Firebrand, adapted by Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth from a novel by Elizabeth Freemantle, is a solid if unremarkable piece of work that fails to catch fire dramatically the way I’d hoped. The plot attempts to reframe Katherine (Alicia Vikander) from her perceived historic role as solely a queen who cared for…
