Firebrand Proves Katherine Parr Was a Feminist Survivor of Henry VIII

Henry VIII had six wives and only one survived.  With every film or television incarnation about Henry VIII, the storyline is almost assuredly focused on the King.  The jokes and narratives are ingrained with a childhood song similar to the one about Lizzy Borden and her forty whacks in which wives are referred to as beheaded because somehow history is more obsessed with dead women than the ones who survive. Katherine Parr not only survived but is a pristine example of what can happen to women who are outspoken and intelligent. It created enormous ripples of how the institution of the royal family still echoes through today’s culture and history

Twice married, accomplished, and educated Katherine Parr (Alicia Vikander), reluctantly agrees to become the sixth wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII (Jude Law). Her consent to marry him carries great personal risk, given that her predecessors are either vanquished, beheaded, or dead. When Henry appoints her as Regent, the nation’s ruler during his absence when he departs to fight overseas, he lays a dangerous path for her. Henry’s courtiers, suspecting she’s sympathetic to radical Protestant beliefs that have taken root in the kingdom and are a threat to their power, scheme against her and cast doubts upon her fidelity to the increasingly ailing and paranoid King. Once Henry returns to England, his courtiers convince him to turn his fury on the nation’s radicals, including Katherine’s childhood friend Anne Askew, who becomes one of the scores of people convicted of treason and burned at the stake. Horrified and privately grieving, Katherine finds herself under ever-increasing scrutiny and suspicion. Knowing that even a whisper of scandal might lead to her downfall, Katherine must unleash her own scheme to fight for survival.

Alicia Vikander, in a understated, powerful portrayal of Katherine commands the screen with each and every frame she inhabits.  Yet, revealing shades of vulnerability  proving once again that women hold it down under the most stressful and dire of circumstances with grace and elegance.  Jude Law is gruff as the infamous Henry VIII with glimpses of tenderness illustrating this was a complicated individual to his core.

Often laden with various shades of blues and grey, director Karim Aïnouz took a risk with infiltrating more browns, gold, red and green into the color palate for this period piece which are in tune with the fiery independent spirit of Katherine. Based on the novel ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ by Elizabeth Fremantle, this film’s production and costume design are exquisite from the creative genius of Helen Scott and Michael O’Connor – respectively.

Once upon a time, women were not the passive, submissive flowers waiting on a man’s approval to be independently strong with an unapologetic sense of self. Katherine Parr, Anne Askew, the Queen’s ladies in waiting and her daughter represented the first remnants of feminism as we have come to know it in modern times with a brand that was pure fire.  Had there not been a Katherine Parr, Royal Family notables like the outspoken Princess Diana, Princess Fergie, the Duchess of Sussex – Megan Markle and even the late Queen Elizabeth would have been muzzled and silenced never having the courage or tenacity to speak up and out for what was right despite the consequences. Firebrand keeps that lineage alive with all of their voices and the ones