CANNES – Henry VIII was a bad, bad, bad man. The 16th Century King of England notoriously beheaded two of his six wives, divorced another two, and saw another die during childbirth. The story of the sixth, however, has somehow been a footnote to history to the more scandalous tales of his other wives (unless you happen to be a hardcore fan of “Six: The Musical”). The sixth, Catherine Parr not only outlived her third husband but made history in her own right. And not just as the stepmother to Elizabeth I, arguably, one of the greatest rulers in European history. The relationship between Parr and Henry VIII is the subject of Karim Aïnouz‘s new drama “Firebrand,” which debuted at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival this past weekend.
Set over the last few weeks of Henry VIII’s reign, “Firebrand” finds Parr battling allegations from a nervous Bishop that she assisted radicals intent on overthrowing the King. As she fights off rumors and threats, she also has a temperamental husband to deal with. Like many of Henry’s wives, Parr is essentially in an abusive marriage. And, in this version of the story at least, the pain the king is experiencing in his rotting leg has only encouraged his vile behavior. In a number of scenes, Henry (Jude Law) is horrifyingly rough and quite dehumanizing in his treatment of Parr (Alicia Vikander).
During the film’s press conference, Vikander reflected on how little things had changed for many women from half a millennium ago.
“It kind of hit us while we were making some of these scenes,” Vikander recalls. “Really when it was just the two of us and, Jude, you were pretty wonderfully terrifying. And it was like those very sensitive moments. It’s the beauty of the work I do. I get to put myself in a situation and imagine with other people in the space and it becomes very powerful and then you get the chance to get a sense of, ‘Whoa, this is what it could be like for a person who is in this situation and I don’t think there is any difference from being there 500 years ago to today.”
“That’s what drew me from the story in the very beginning,” producer Gabrielle Tanna notes. “Things are timeless.”
Vikander came to the project after Law had been attached sometime. As they begin to rehearse, the reality of Parr’s situation sort of hit her. The Queen regent was married to Henry VII with no say in the matter knowing that his five previous wives were already all dead. Vikander notes, “That’s I think where I realized how fragile each moment is for this woman. How she is so terrified of anything because anything she does wrong can make this man flip.”
The Oscar winner also knew she had to approach it all with “some sort of lightness” (Law says there was a lot of laughter on set), but that Parr’s own achievements made it somewhat easier. For, in Vikander’s own words, Parr was “pretty extraordinary.”
“The things she achieved. She was known to be a good mother. She was the first woman to be published under her own name,” Vikander says. “But, again, I also need to make a grounded, complex, multi-layered human being. One of the things that I found pretty incredible and it’s 500 years ago, and as far as we know it’s mostly men and kings that are acknowledged in history. This character that I’m going to portray, she does have these books that you can actually go and read and they have been translated into more modern English. And then, I listen to her own voice and also knowing it’s a woman from 500 years ago was a pretty extraordinary feeling. There I feel like I can pick up real nuances and that’s where my fantasies and inspiration started to bloom.”
Notoriously large, Law notes that the only real prosthetic used to transform him into his character was for Henry’s infected leg. A beard, specifically designed costumes, teeth, and a different hairline, among other items, helped create an illusion without a fat suit. Law felt it was necessary, however, to bring something else to set to truly transform into the monstrous king.
“I read several interesting accounts that at this period you could smell Henry three rooms away because his leg was rotting so badly,” Law says. “And he hid it with rose oil. So, I thought it would have a great impact if I smelled awful. So I went to this brilliant perfumer, who really, by the way, makes wonderful scents and she also makes awful scents. And she somehow managed to come up with this extraordinary variety which was part blood, Fecal matter, and sweat. Initially, I used it very subtly. I just thought I’d use it myself and that would have an impact. When Karim got hold of it it was a spray fest. A lot of the reactions you see [from other actors are from that].”
“When they left the set to eat I would spray the room,” Aïnouz says to laughter in the conference room. “Every room had the smell. It was incredible. It really triggered a lot. When he walked on set it was just wonderful.”
Vikander adds bluntly, “I didn’t know anything could smell like that.”
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