Anne’s Legacy: Memory in Media

Anne’s story has made its way into countless films and television shows, including the four notable adaptations featured here, which chronicle Anne’s journey from 1536 to the twenty-first century.

The first clip is from a German 1920 silent film titled Anna Boleyn and is a black-and-white classic directed by Ernst Lubitsch. This scene shows Henry spotting Anne through a door, and his pursuit of her, with the omnipresent eyes of court only a wall away.

The second clip is from the Metropolitan Opera’s 2016 rendition of Anna Bolena, composed by Gaetano Donizetti. Soprano singer Anna Netrebko plays a powerful musical interpretation of Anne. The scene, featuring Anne as queen, Jane Seymour, young Elizabeth, and Anne's page Mark Smeaton, depicts court dynamics, with an air of Anne’s impending demise hanging over the clip.

The next two clips are from the 1969 Hollywood classic Anne of the Thousand Days, starring Geneviève Bujold as Anne, Richard Burton as Henry, and Irene Papas as Catherine of Aragon. The film was based on Maxwell Anderson’s 1948 play and won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, one of ten Academy Awards it was nominated for.

This first scene is of Henry VIII and Anne, in his early pursuit of her, and shortly after the sabotage of her romance with Henry Percy. Anne’s strong personality shines through, willing to confront the King. 

The second scene is of Henry and Anne talking while she is imprisoned. Facing execution, Anne is defiant and foreshadows the fate of her greatest legacy: her daughter Elizabeth.

Finally, the last clip comes from the 2008 historical romance The Other Boleyn Girl. Based on a novel by Phillippa Gregory, the film stars Natalie Portman as Anne, Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn, and Eric Bana as Henry, with much focus on a love triangle between the king and the Boleyn sisters. This scene is of Henry being introduced to Anne at court upon her return from France.

While each piece of media differs in its interpretation and dramatization of Anne, in all she is an extraordinary woman for her time. Together, these clips help underscore the myth of a sixteenth-century woman in contemporary memory.