Sylvia
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Movie Reviews of Sylvia
Movie Review: A disservice to Sylvia
Summary: 4 Stars
I'd have given this movie 3 stars if it weren't for the brilliant performances of its cast. Despite an unforgettable portrayal from Gwyneth Paltrow of a haunted, tormented soul in a performance that is almost disturbing, the film glossed over Sylvia Plath's relationship to her art while focusing mainly on her relationship to her husband, poet Ted Hughes.
The movie version showed collaboration between the two poets only during their courtship phase, with Sylvia losing touch with her art shortly after her marriage. However, biographies of Sylvia stress how, for several years during her marriage, and before its collapse, there had been a period of productivity and fruitful collaboration between her and her poet husband, where they both helped, encouraged and inspired one another. The relationship the-movie-Sylvia had with her poetry seemed marginal, and after her marriage, nearly non-existent.
Was it that the film-makers, with eyes on the box-office, feared to "alienate" their average customers with any emphasis on poetry, so they decided to flatten out the story, believing that focusing on her mental disturbance and putting "that bit about art" on the backburner would sell better? Or was it simply that Hollywood is completely out of its depth whenever there is any depth to be dealt with?
So, the-movie-Sylvia was this deeply disturbed woman, jealous of nearly everything her husband did, and her own relationship with poetry and her work was skimmed over and presented in a most superficial manner. Daniel Craig's performance was sophisticated, leaning more towards the portrait of an estranged husband rather than a womanizing scoundrel. Other supporting cast were excellent.
If viewers didn't know much about Sylvia Plath, the impression they would get from this movie would be that she was a mentally disturbed soul, but not a serious artist. A sad distortion, with the performance of its cast as its only saving grace.
Movie Review: A Sweeping Portrait of a Complicated Poet
Summary: 4 Stars
In portraying an interior life as complex and as troubled as Sylvia Plath's, the visual medium of film faces enormous obstacles, but this biopic does its best to overcome them. Gwyneth Paltrow is excellent as Plath, as she shows the poet's emotional transformation from just before her marriage, when she was hopeful, to the desolation leading to her suicide. The movie focuses almost exclusively on the relationship between Plath and poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig), and in this, does an admirable job of showing how Plath could not escape the shadow of her husband's fame despite her own ambitions. His infidelity and her incessant jealousy destroy their marriage while leading to some of Plath's best poetry, the volume titled Ariel that posthumously vaulted Plath to the status she had craved her entire adult life.
The acting is generally excellent, with Blythe Danner and Michael Gambon turning in skilled supporting performances. Unfortunately, this biopic lacks balance. In its relentless push toward Plath's suicide, it forgets that Plath's life was not only about her death. Her relationship with her children is only faintly hinted at and then usually bleakly; one scene shows her contemplating suicide at the edge of the ocean while the somber face of her daughter, peering out of the car window, pulls her back. But where is Plath's motherly dedication prior to that? And while the screenplay portrays Plath's temporary passion for her work after Hughes leaves her, the film leaves little sense of her poetic nature.
"Sylvia" is a good, but not great, film. Those who know a lot about Plath may be bothered by the omissions, but this is a moving, often compelling, introduction to Plath the woman. High school teachers might want to show this to their students only after discussing the details of her life in class.
Movie Review: Paltrow's best work and outstanding direction
Summary: 4 Stars
Gwyneth Paltrow is at her most powerful and persuasive in this portrayal of troubled American poet and author Sylvia Plath. The principal actor in this drama -- who appears in every scene -- gives a subtle, textured and three dimensional portrait of the young wife, mother and author of poetry about death, despair and foreboding. Her work parallels her life in the drama.
All the players in this biopic turn in fine work including Daniel Craig as Ted Hughes, the noted poet and Plath's husband who loved his wife and children, yet typically found answers to family conflict at the bottom of a liquor bottle or in another woman's bed. Other players -- including a sympathetic neighbor and Paltrow's real life mother, Blythe Danner, who played her mother in the movie -- turn in equally believable work.
Director Christine Jeffs deserves credit for the uniformly outstanding work by the actors. Each fills a niche in this somewhat naive and transparent look at a famous person's life, and each does fine work in their own right, supporting the best work of Paltrow's career.
This film is less electric and less kaleidoscopic than another depressing life story, "Hilary and Jackie", that covers much of the same ground. Still, the film painting of the principal character by Paltrow is credible and absorbing at every turn. Many performances with less guile and technique have won Oscars.
If you enjoy films about famous artists and can look past the shortcomings of describing a lifetime in 100 minutes, you will enjoy this movie. Fans of Paltrow should rush to it if they've not yet experienced it, for she shows another side of her estimable self under Jeffs' direction.
Movie Review: Good Movie.
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this movie, and I didn't think I would. I was very pleasantly surprised. At first I was dubious when I heard that Paltrow was playing--physically I thought Kate Winslet resembled Plath more--Paltrow proved me wrong. She did a terrific job.Generally speaking, I like Plath's art. Without question, she was intensely bright, intensely academic, and she also suffered, tragically, from mental illness. Mercifully she managed to control her mania for a short while in order to produce some brilliant work before she burned out. That is admirable.
I was not overly inclined to see this movie, because I was dreading the romanticized misery that a movie like this can become. Sadly, I feel that much of Plath's literary mystique is about her misery, and an industry has been built around the drama of her suicide. Her own daughter refers to this as "the Sylvie suicide doll." Plath has inspired a cult following of overachieving depressed college students, and, unfortunately, I believe that this fan base has managed to undermine Plath's very serious efforts.
The movie magically avoided all of this. I admire the movie because there is nothing glamorous about it. It provides a very honest, sympathetic sense of Plath's illness and her breakdown. Enormous sections of this film have very little talking, and it is effective. It does not try to present Plath as a stereotypical melancholy artist with a death fixation. It also gives Ted Hughes some deserved sympathy as well. Moreover, I thought it was a strength that the movie did not get mired down in recitations of poetry.
It simply gives you Syvlia Plath, her energy and her mania.
Movie Review: Paltrow makes for a beautiful Plath
Summary: 4 Stars
Sylvia is a movie about the last 1/3 or so, of iconic American poet Sylvia Plath's life. The movie begins when Sylvia is studying in Britain on a scholarship. In the beginning, we watch as Sylvia Plath encounters harsh reviews of her writing and then the man whom would play a huge role in her demise, famed British poet Ted Hughes. The rest of the movie depicts the married life of Ted and Sylvia, which I think would have been a more appropriate title for this movie. Gwyneth Paltrow does a fantastic job of portraying the volatile emotions of Sylvia Plath. On one hand loving her man with a burning intensity not very often displayed by women. On the other hand, she is extremely jealous and has outbursts when she feels unloved or disrespected by Ted. Finally, we see the demise of Sylvia when Ted leaves her, and how she struggles with inner demons in the last days of her life, culminating in her suicide.
I don't agree with a previous reviewer that this movie is only meant for Plath fans. There is fantastic acting and quite a bit of depth to each of the characters. I personally would have liked to see a more well-rounded portrayal of Sylvia and ALL of her relationships during this time, including her strenous relationship with her mother, and her near affair with publisher Alvarez. All in all, I thought the movie was good, but it left me longing for a more wholistic view of the great, late Sylvia Plath.