Sylvia
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Movie Reviews of Sylvia
Movie Review: Engaging Story - Riveting Performances
Summary: 5 Stars
I didn't know of this movie until I saw it on the video store shelf and thought, "Sylvia Plath - poet, writer, depressed-person-who-kills-herself, mother. Yes. It would be the perfect study for a poet, writer, mother, one-time-depressed-person-who-doesn't-kill-herself like me.
I also knew Gwyneth Paltrow was in it so it must have merit from that alone.
I read several of the reviews here and was prepared for anything - not liking it, loving it, not caring about it.
I found myself pulled into the imagery from the beginning - ironically, to the aliveness which seemed to inform Sylvia's creativity... like the energy of the wind pushing their leaves into dancing or the movement of the row boat upon the ocean when she was "unable to write".
One of the reviewers spoke of this piece being presented from the viewpoint of Plath's husband, poet Ted Hughes, played in this film by Daniel Craig.. I felt it was balanced - and truthful - it didn't sugar-coat either "side", it instead simply unfolded the story that bound these two (and those around them) forever.
Some of my favorite images from the film were Ted leaving, once again, and the focus being strongly on the couple and then seeing their daughter, alone, playing quietly outside as her Daddy leaves them. It is like the child is a shadowy afterthought, perhaps like Plath saw herself following her Father's death when she was only 9 years old.
Another image is Plath preparing to write (typewriter in place, paper and pencils at attention, everything "perfect") and nothing coming from her mind or heart onto the page.
I also appreciated seeing Plath's intuitive side picking up on her husband's ultimate marriage breaking affair during a seemingly innocent incident, which was followed by an incredible line (and I wonder if it came from any of Plath's writing?") "The truth comes to me. The truth loves me."
I also appreciated the subtlety of Plath's ever-present mental illness. Throughout the movie there were times when she would simply repeat, "I am tired. I am sooooo tired."
She wears the same skirt in many of the scenes, day after month after year.
I also tuned into the quietness of Plath's depression - the wordlessness of it - the inability to speak it or write it into the air. She finally speaks it to a friend, saying "I'm hollow."
Yes, there is much to consider, to study, to revel in from this movie. The facial expressions from Paltrow and Craig are enough to fill several pages.
Watch it. Sit with it. Watch it. Sit with it. If you are a writer yourself, write from it.
Movie Review: a great flick!
Summary: 5 Stars
For starters, I'm a pretty big Plath-a-holic. I saw this film at the sold out Cineworld Film Festival back in November and every time I've seen it since then, I've been blown away.I liked the fact that the directors didn't make Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes to be wonderfully nice people, but they seemed to tone down all of the characters' worst qualities. Plath wasn't as rude as many biographers have made her out to be, and in the movie, Hughes had only one bona fide affair. Aurelia Plath, Sylvia's mother, was quite brash, but not portrayed as brashly as in most Plath biographies. Another Plath habit that wasn't included in the movie is that of Plath's dying her hair different colors when she was going through phases. Seeing that and maybe having a line or two of Hughes asking Plath why she dyed her hair would have been helpful in understanding Plath's transitions in mood.
As far as casting goes, I've long held the belief that Gwyneth Paltrow is the perfect Sylvia Plath. The guy playing Ted Hughes was a bit too old for the beginning. The actress playing Aurelia Plath really confused me. She said things Aurelia Plath might have said, and mingled with the neighbors the way Aurelia Plath would have, but there was something missing.
Something I absolutely loved about this movie were little references to Plath. For instance, her license plate read "AOK [and then some number]." When she tried to make up with Hughes, they drank a bottle of Nuits St. Georges wine (referred to in The Bell Jar) in the vintage year 1959, the year when Plath really began to make poetic breakthroughs.
There were also camera shots here and there that I really liked. One shot featured Plath crying, and a teardrop was stuck at the tip of her nose. Another was of Plath in her bathtub, her pale face looking almost ghostly in the murky green water.
In general, I was pleased with Sylvia. If you know a lot about Plath, you'll probably be very happy with it. If you don't know too much about her real life, you'll probably just think it's okay.
Movie Review: A View from Behind the Poets' Eyes
Summary: 5 Stars
SYLVIA is a film that appears to have disparate factions: those who are disappointed that the story is not about poetry and those who find the biography of a woman possessed of a progressively disintegrating mind sufficient. Sylvia Plath is a poet who come into her own after her famous suicide - an act that was a reflection of her troubled life and failed previous childhood suicide attempt. Now her novel "The Bell Jar" and her most famous collection of poems "Ariel" have earned her a seat in the high echelon of American poets. Would she have achieved that status were it not for her life as wife of the enigmatic poet Ted Hughes, with all the highs and lows that marriage afforded is a question that will never be answered. But at least in SYLVIA we have a beautifully and lovingly rendered version of what happens in the poet's mind as directed by Christine Jeffs.The entire cast is well selected and the performances are subtle, quality ones. Gweneth Paltrow captures the fragility and paranoia/depression mind state of Plath as well as any actress could. Her mother in the film is played to perfection by Blythe Danner, Paltrow's real life mother. Ted Hughes is portrayed by Daniel Craig who manages to maintain our empathy despite the acts that on screen are seen as contributory to Plath's demise. Those acts just happen to likewise have contributed to the content and flavor and message of her poems.
The cinematography is wondrous, illuminating not only the exteriors of London and Devon, England, but also exploring the interiors of the dark places Sylvia and Ted had lived. These dark places are wonderful metaphors for the spaces within the mind that comes unwound. Yes, there may be other versions of Plath's life, especially now that Ted Hughes "Birthday Letters" were published recently just before Hughes dies. But for the present SYLVIA is a tribute, fair and dark and gentle, of a fine American poet. Recommended.
Movie Review: A Hopeful Embrace
Summary: 5 Stars
By now everyone knows that SYLVIA didn't set the box office on fire, but I imagine that most people who are addicted to the Plath Hughes saga managed to sneak in to the theater, perhaps covering their faces in shame the way they used to do in porn theaters. Try to keep away the fans who have devoured every biography of Plath and every memoir by everyone who knew her even tangentially. The DVD is pretty shoddy, there are no features where there could have been plenty! But that might be because apparently the tyrannical Plath Estate refused to let the producers use any of Plath's poetry and denied them cooperation in every other way as well, and young Frieda attacked the film without having seen any of it, but she seems to be rather a touchy person but who could blame her? Anyhow the film is as flat as an old souffle, Gwyneth looks a lot like Sylvia, Blythe Danner is simply horrible playing Aurelia, and the house she shows off to Ted makes her seem like a millionairess with black servants in a vast mansion, which in no way reflects the true economic status of Aurelia and Otto, you just watch the engagement party sequence with your jaw hanging open, the movie never really recovers from this terrible faux pas. But outside of that, it's pretty good. Michael Gambon is in it, reminding us of why "Gambon" is the French word for HAM.
The two young actors who play David and Assia Wevill are also perfectly cast. They might actually be the real life couple whose intrusion into the lives of Ted and Sylvia lit the fuse that exploded their sham of a marriage. The makers of the film invest the enterprise with a wistful hopefulness, you can tell they really wanted to do a great job, and for the most part, we embrace their hopefulness with a wan sigh.
Movie Review: "The truth comes to me, the truth loves me..."
Summary: 5 Stars
Sylvia is a powerful and haunting film by director Christine Jeffs. Poet Sylvia Plath portrayed by the always great Gwyneth Paltrow struggles with suicides, depression, her insecuirty as a writer and a wife is all discussed here. This movie touches me to the core and i am not sure why. Something about it is so auhtentic and disturbing. Plath meets and falls in love with another poet Ted Hughes, after a 4-month courtship they decide to marry and continue working on their individual writings. Hughes exceles greatly as a poet while Plath struggles with poem after poem trying to find a "theme." Although much of the film's focus doesn't focus heavily on Plath's gorgeous poems, it focuses more on Plath's self-destructive marriage to Hughes. Their love for eachother is evident but eventually becomes strained by Plath's ever-growing worry that Hughes is unfaithful to her, which ultimately becomes a ironic reality. I am a huge fan of Sylvia Plath, she was gifted, torturted by the death her beloved father at nine, and still her loneliness and self-doubt could not be overcomed with her genius and her love for her two young children. Paltrow is perfect as always in her fragile portrayal of Plath. Plath would go on to sell million copies of her best volume of poetry "Ariel" but Plath would not be witness to any of this success, she killed herself on February 11, 1963 by lighting the oven and inhaling the fumes. If you are a fan of Plath, i highly recommend watching this film, great cinematography, great acting, and great story. Enjoy!