“I wish I could’ve done more,” Catherine (Alicia Vikander) says upon the return of her husband King Henry VIII (Jude Law) in “Firebrand,” careful not to express too much enthusiasm about her temporary stint at the helm of England while His Majesty was traveling abroad. Known for his boorish behavior, the king hasn’t been missed at the palace where Catherine has provided a sense of calm among a court comprised in part by relatives from his past marriages, most of which ended in death sentences or prison terms when he tired of them, with Edward and Elizabeth, his would-be heirs, having embraced her as their mother when the women that actually gave them birth are no longer around.
The magnificent fourth narrative feature from Karin Ainouz sees the Brazilian director head north for his first English-language film, where in this fleeting moment of unquestioned authority, it appears Catherine could bring peace to not only the kingdom immediately in front of her but to the one that stretches to the sea, aligning the pieces for a religious revolution in the country that King Henry remained a staunch hinderance against, and following the director’s sensational adaptation of Martha Batalha’s “The Invisible Life of Eurydice Gusmao,” a hothouse drama which took full advantage of the sweaty climes of the nearby Amazon rainforest, “Firebrand” imagines the royal court to be no different than the jungle, full of serpentine creatures to beware of and yielding the kind of fresh air that can only be experienced after enduring stifling humidity as Catherine’s bid for the throne reaches a boiling point.
Once again finding the sweet spot between irresistible melodrama and a sophisticated study of power, Ainouz works from a smartly structured script from Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth that sees Catherine constantly weighing where and when to assert herself once Henry comes back, having already quietly arranged a clandestine visit to an old friend Anne Askew (Erin Doherty), as she makes her way around villages rallying support towards a progressive brand of Protestantism, and encourages the teenage Elizabeth to pursue efforts to translate the Bible into English, putting her own spin on the meaning for publication across the land, much like her own book of prayers was with the king none the wiser. Still, Henry returns from the battlefront more adamant than ever that he is a direct descendant of God, but looking increasingly mortal as he limps around with a wound on his leg that no amount of treatment can stop from further infection and it could be days or months before he dies, an unfathomable period of time no matter how long it is for almost anyone in his immediate circle when he’s completely insufferable, with Law deliciously playing the total degenerate with utter relish.
Catherine has some issues to contend with beyond the ongoing indignity of sleeping beside a king that openly flirts right in front of her and forces himself upon her at will, namely the suspicions of the Bishop (Simon Russell Beale), who sees her religious work as a threat to his own standing and the church system as a whole, but the film considers it only a matter of time and ingenuity to achieve her aims, recognizing that when it comes to progress the world has not yet seen, their elusiveness can feel as formidible as any external force. After Vikander has acquit herself admirably in a number of polite costume dramas, it is especially delightful to see her operate in one that is anything but, and once Catherine learns Anne has been burned as a heretic with an extra bit of gunpowder stuffed down her throat for good measure only minutes into the film, “Firebrand” is never anything less than explosive, with the actor’s ability to exhibit ferocity even in patience on full display. The performances from Vikander and Law are matched by the boldness of the film’s presentation, full of color hiding just behind the inky blacks that only “Happy as Lazarro” cinematographer Hélène Louvart can ever seem to manage to turn into illumination, and although there’s hardly anything regal in what’s actually being depicted, “Firebrand” is undeniably commanding.
“Firebrand” does not yet have U.S. distribution.
