When Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz (famed for 2019’s Cannes prize-winner The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão) decided to make his first English-language movie, Firebrand, he settled on the era of Tudor England: specifically, Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, who outlived the notorious monarch by over a year-and-a-half. ‘I found the story of this woman and said, “Why hasn’t anything been made about this woman?” It’s a classic choice of only doing the dead ones! Why can’t we do the one who survived?’ 

Adapted from Elizabeth Freemantle’s 2013 novel Queen's Gambit, Firebrand stars Swedish Oscar-winning actress Alicia Vikander as Parr. Opposite her, Jude Law plays King Henry VIII, relishing the role as an increasingly paranoid and ailing leader. Aïnouz admits he wanted to put his own stamp on an indelible slice of British history. ‘The English have been so incredibly brilliant in creating [their] own mythology,’ he says. ‘You know, when you talk about Diana... the whole world knows about Diana. When you talk about Henry VIII, everybody knows about Henry VIII.’

Aïnouz was particularly struck by Parr’s feminist principles, despite living alongside a king who infamously executed two of his former wives. ‘When I read the story of Katherine Parr... it was not only great how she survived this guy, and how she lived after him, but I think it was incredibly beautiful, the way that she educated his kids, the way she educated [future Queen of England] Elizabeth. I think there was something about how women exercised power that I thought that was really fascinating there.’

The director was born in the north-east of Brazil and says there was something about Parr that felt familiar. ‘She had something that really reminded me of the way I was raised. My mother... at some point in my life, she was a professor, she didn’t make much money. We had a rented house, and she said, “We’re not poor, but we’re not rich.” And I remember she said, “Karim, I’m always gonna have this job, and when I pass away, the only thing I can leave you... it will not be money. It will be knowledge. I want you to be educated.”’ 

Aïnouz spent hours and hours researching the Tudor era to ensure he got every detail right, but his perspective as an outsider was also vital to making the film. ‘I do think that when you really look at history, it’s really interesting how people lived. It’s a chronicle of another time: the ladies-in-waiting that are jumping around in beautiful frocks, [but] they are actually sleeping in the room next door on straw mats. So for me, it was like looking at that history, saying, “I also have the right to tell you because there are so many times that the English and the French and the Dutch and the Americans told our history.”’ 

For the Brazilian, it was also the chance to collaborate with some of the finest actors Europe has to offer. The sublime support cast includes Eddie Marsan and Sam Riley, as well as Simon Russell Beale, ‘a genius of Shakespeare in theatre in England’, who plays the scheming Bishop Stephen Gardiner. ‘For me, it’s learning,’ the director adds. ‘I think there’s something that I learned with Simon, that I learned with Jude, that I learned with Alicia... these are people that have been on a million movie sets.’ 

After completing Firebrand, Aïnouz headed back to Brazil for his highly explicit erotic thriller Motel Destino, which just played in competition in Cannes. He enjoyed the spontaneity of making it, something he says was harder to achieve in a more rigid film like Firebrand. ‘I mean, I did try to get birds into the castle in Firebrand, but I couldn’t, because when they shit, it’s [like] acid,’ he laughs. ‘It will damage the fucking furniture!’ 

Firebrand is in cinemas from Friday 6 September.