Sylvia
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alison Bruce, Amira Casar, Blythe Danner, Daniel Craig, Gwyneth PaltrowBrand: Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of Sylvia
Movie Review: Everyone missed the point
Summary: 5 Stars
Although some of these reviews are excellent, I can't believe the lack of sensitivity and the total lack of good taste showed by some! How could anyone end a review of anything to do with Plath by saying, "Enjoy!"??!!
The clip from the illustrious NYT is sickening.
Now why am I so vehement about all this? For me, the point of this film and the point of her life was how our (Western) society deals with genius, not just intense feeling as many said and how our society abused geniuses.
This movie acted as if Sylvia Plath was just another talented but frustrated, abused or not terribly abused,-- housewife who would be a fine poster girl for all the politically correct clichés that dull academics could spout about how it is such a pity, endemic to our sexist and corrupted society, that such a talented, attractive young woman should have suffered so severely from society's blindness....blah blah
Millions of women fit that description but Sylvia Plath did not belong in that category since she was that terrible angel or terrifying beast which no one can comprehend and who scares the hell out of people for her sheer brillance: a true genius,
a person who makes the average mediocre bystander or reader feel small just by her sheer presence,brilliance and especially through her poems which are the pearls or the rubies or the diamonds --(it's hard to say which stones since diamonds are discredited these days)-- but let's just say the most ideal gem that we can imagine.
Now, each time I see another of her films or watch one of her older films again, I have more respect for Glynneth P. as an actress--(that's one more thing that really bothers me: why on earth can't we say 'actress' any more?
Anyone with eyes can see that most actresses,and especially Glynneth, are very beautiful and feminine women so why not say actress? Does everyone have to hate them because they are so much more attractive than their "fans?")
Finally (almost),so that this does not go on any longer, I would have given this film 5 stars or more for the acting and for many technical things like the directing, camera work, sound, etc. But since the movie missed the point, I can only give it a 4 since it lost most of the impact it should have had but it was a worthy attempt at an impossible project: to get people to look clearly at her life, a terrifying prospect for most people.
Now, the question is: why didn't people like it? Obviously few people are ready to really confront the horror of her life as I just said.
We like everything to be romanticized so it makes sense that most would like to turn her life into a little tale with a convenient moral. I
t would be more interesting to face the fact that although she did try to kill herself and came quite close many times (no one realizes how difficult it really is to kill oneself or another (unless you use some means which puts a lot of distance between yourself and the victim or use something which seems less shocking like slow poison. Old time wars and attacks took men with both strong arms and very strong stomachs.))
To close without going into too many gory details, why did she suffer so? And by what miracle did she produce those poems (not all of them but many) which have such power to produce powerful positive effects in her readers?
What genius did she have and, above all, more importantly, what type of amazing inner strength and drive to express herself did she develop which enabled her to leave us her gems of limitless worth before her tragic end?
Summary of Sylvia
Gwyneth paltrow is sexy and willful in the finest and most passionate performance of her career as legendary author and poet sylvia plath. A powerful and compelling love story about two of the last centurys most influential artists. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/24/2004 Starring: Gwyneth PaltrowThe biting poetry and sad life of poet Sylvia Plath form the story of Sylvia, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. This subtle but fascinating movie centers around Plath's relationship with poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig, Love Is the Devil), with whom she fell aggressively in love while a student at Cambridge. Their relationship proved passionate but rocky; many of Plath's fans blame the depression that eventually led her to suicide on Hughes's infidelity. Sylvia doesn't let Hughes off the hook, but it doesn't paint Plath as a helpless victim either. Paltrow's superb performance captures the poet's fierce jealousy and artistic ambition as much as her debilitating sorrow. The movie makes no big statements about Plath's poetry, letting the troubling details of her life tell their own compelling story. Also featuring Jared Harris, Blythe Danner, and Michael Gambon; the acting is outstanding all around. --Bret Fetzer
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