Were it not arriving in the theaters in the immediate aftermath of the awards season, Justin Chadwick’s “The Other Boleyn Girl” would look like surefire Oscar bait on paper. Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Eric Bana do the British accent in a 16th-century costume drama from the screenwriter of “The Queen” and “The Last King of Scotland,” and the producer of “No Country for Old Men.” What might have packed an auditorium or two at the Angelika on Christmas Day now seems like so much leftover turkey in late February. This adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s eponymous novel is a fictionalized account of the alleged affairs between King Henry VIII (Mr. Bana) and sisters Anne (Ms. Portman) and Mary Boleyn (Ms. Johansson). Frustrated by the inability of Queen Catherine (Ana Torrent) to produce a male heir to the throne, the king is on the prowl for a royal broodmare to accomplish that mission.

Seizing the opportunity for social-ladder climbing, the Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey) convinces Thomas Boleyn (Mark Rylance) to pimp his daughter, Anne, to the monarchy. When a faux pas on Anne’s part affronts the king, the family dispatches the already-married Mary to seal the deal. But by the time Mary gives birth to Henry’s son, the king is bowing at Anne’s feet. Eventually, Henry annuls his marriage to Catherine without the pope’s blessing in order to marry Anne, and causes England to sever its ties with the Catholic church.