by Chad Kennerk

Jude Law as Henry VIII and Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr.

Photo credit: Larry Horricks. All images courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Based on Elizabeth Fremantle’s 2012 novel Queen’s Gambit, Firebrand follows the story of Katherine Parr, the sixth (and ultimately last) wife of Tudor dynasty monarch King Henry VIII. During the film’s development, director Karim Aïnouz and writers Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth honed the story down to focus on a period four years into Henry’s final marriage. Queen Katherine has been named regent while Henry fights overseas. When the increasingly ailing and paranoid King returns, he turns his fury on the realm’s religious radicals, charging Katherine’s childhood friend with treason. Katherine soon finds herself fighting for her own survival in an increasingly oppressive palace. On the hope of a hereafter free from the tyranny that has defined blood-soaked Tudor England, Katherine uses...