Firebrand

Students would be advised to avoid cheating on history tests by watching Firebrand, a revisionist 16th century melodrama that is difficult to take seriously.

Despite a committed performance by Alicia Vikander in the title role, the film lacks subtlety in trying to infuse a true-life period piece with a contemporary feminist perspective and position its outspoken protagonist as a pioneering crusader for women’s rights.

It’s set in England during the tumultuous Tudor era, amid a culture of control, intolerance, rebellion, and sociopolitical turmoil overseen by the notorious King Henry VIII (Jude Law). Vikander plays Catherine, an erudite scholar who has reluctantly agreed to become the ailing ruler’s sixth wife.

Before leaving to fight overseas, Henry names Catherine as Regent in his absence. But the kingdom’s Catholic leaders suspect that she’s a radical Protestant sympathizer, view her as a threat, and plot against her.

Their concerns reach Henry by the time he returns, when his behavior has become erratic and his injuries have rendered him almost immobile. At first, his over-the-top eccentricities seem harmless enough, but beneath the surface, he’s boorish and abusive.

It becomes clear their marriage is not based on romantic affection but rather seems an arrangement of convenience to keep up appearances on both sides — giving Catherine greater social standing and providing Henry with a chance at another male heir.

Loyalties become torn among those close to the royal couple as Henry wages a tyrannical campaign against religious outsiders — especially women — vowing to burn them at the stake for treason. Catherine maintains a quiet dignity while suppressing her rage, but eventually they both struggle to disguise their hostility for one another as she tries to clear her name and maintain her power.

Prone to heavy-handed embellishments and exaggerations, perhaps such a fictionalized narrative approach would have worked if the English-language debut of Brazilian director Karim Ainouz (Invisible Life) injected a satirical edge or leaned into the same transgressive spirit as Catherine.

Instead, the straight-faced screenplay simply takes extensive liberties with dialogue, character dynamics, and other details while muddling their context.

Vikander balances strength and vulnerability in depicting a woman becoming empowered and finding her voice in a world of patriarchal oppression and faith-based persecution.

However, the uneven and visually flat Firebrand can’t match her energy, only intermittently giving its story some fresh intrigue, 500 years later.

Rated R, 120 minutes.