Sylvia
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Movie Reviews of Sylvia
Movie Review: Hmm...more like three-and-a-half stars
Summary: 3 Stars
Sylvia Plath was a woman living a relatively normal life as a poet. Her husband, fellow poet Ted Hughes, eventually maintained an affair and left her. Sylvia was devastated and later killed herself. The story is a simple one; in fact, some suggest that had Plath not been famous most would consider it a tale not worth telling on screen at all. Though I agreed in my initial reaction to the film, as I think about it more the film is not simply a feminist accusation against men and how their actions drive women to "the edge," but it is a quiet, minor study of depression and its effects.
With poetic camera work and Gwyneth Paltrow's subtle but shattering turn, Christine Jeffs has much to work with. Though the story rolls along much too slowly and without anything new to add to infidelity in cinema, what she shows us about depression is interesting. Some say Hughes was to blame for Plath's suicide, but isn't it really Plath's depression that would eventually lead her to take such action? I'm not saying that Jeffs intends to shed positive light on Hughes' actions as a husband. What I'm saying is that the depression exhibited in "Sylvia" is the self-destructive sort; it throws away rationality and causes one to make impulsive, unwise decisions one would not necessarily make otherwise. Thus, Plath's suicide becomes all the more devastating and relevant. Though the film certainly does not represent all aspects of her suicide, I would like to take note of its correct decision in making depression almost a character in itself, directing Plath in most of what she did in her later life, even inspiring some of what are considered her masterworks.
Depression numbs the mind and soul of human beings. In Plath's piece "Lady Lazarus," her attempted suicides are spoken of with nonchalance, as if she were simply playing some game at a fair over and over till she won a teddy bear for her lover. While these facts revealed themselves throughout the film, all I could think was of the utter malignancy of intense depression; though Jeffs was not successful in pacing, she provokes an appropriate amount of thought. If only the film had been as passionate, haunting, and beautiful as Plath's poetry, then it would have been truly memorable.
Movie Review: For 2 poets the communication of love didn't exist.
Summary: 3 Stars
I almost shut this movie off, and wrote it off as a loss. I don't pretend to be a very understanding person when it comes to poetry. However, it seemed to me that Ted and Sylvia Hughes didn't know how to present the communicated word to each other in thier marriage. There were 2 rather good performances in here with Gwynnth Paltrow as Sylvia, and Daniel Cage as Ted. Thrusted together by thier love of poetry, and cut down by the real world of "Hey you 2 are married; be a team, and not two separate players." I feel that's what had happened. The marriage seemed rather good in the beginning, and you could see that as inspiration ran on both Ted and Sylvia, but the realization of being a family instead of a couple just didn't sit too well, and Sylvia went on a trip to post partum depression, and Ted went on a trip to drive Sylvia what seemed to be crazy. With Sylvia's depression running rampant he should've been trying to help her, and not going off to tend to business. Sylvia's welfare should've been his business. However, Sylvia's behavior seemed to just falter more and more as she'd suspect Ted cheating on her, and finally he does so with another female poet. The last few moments of this movie focused on the possibility that Ted and Sylvia getting back together, and this is what Sylvia is hoping, but Ted says that the other woman is pregnant, and he can't leave her. This finally pushes Sylvia over the edge, and she commits suicide on Feb. 11, 1963. She was very young, and to me she died way too early. She had more to offer the world, but when depression kicks into high gear the only thing you can think of is death. I know that's how it was with my late wife I did, or so I thought everything I knew how to to keep my wife happy, but in the end it still wasn't enough. She wanted to die, and she died in a hot parking lot on June 11, 2003. This movie was, or so I thought rather slow moving, and at many times not an upbeat movie. I feel that it was a tragic story to portray, and Paltrow did a very good job.Movie Review: Good Acting But Sylvia's Life Can Be Found Only in Her Poems
Summary: 3 Stars
If you want to know Sylvia, read her poems. I tell you, even if you see the film 'Sylvia,' you never meet the poetess herself. You will see Ms. Paltrow, who did a really good job, and you will see beautifully shot images, and ... that's all.
Though the film is titled 'Sylvia,' it is mainly about the relations between her and Ted Hughes. Probably you are a kind of movie fan who want to see this 'high-brow' drama, so you don't need any further explanations about them. I only add that it starts with their Cambridge days, and ends with the fatal day and the gas oven.
Now, the problem is this; 'Sylvia' sidesteps many questions about her complicated life, concentrating too much on the turbulent relations with Ted Hughes. However, take away the fact that the film is based on the life of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, and what will remain after that? And where is her 'daddy'?
'Sylvia' or its director Christine Jeffs is not kind to Ted Hughes. I admit that they can view things this way if they like, but the film seems to attribute most of her incredible anguish to Ted Hughes's womanizing habits (which the film claims), and still dilutes his behaviors. Sylvia's life thus is portrayed as a painful one, as the housewife playing the second violin or neglected wife who must stay at home, but clearly, these pains, immediate and real as they are, do not explain the personality of Plath. And that personality is only to be found in her poems.
Good acting from Gwyneth Paltrow as Plath, Daniel Craig as Hughes, Jared Harris, Michael Gambon, and very clever casting of the real-life mother of Paltrow Blyth Danner as Sylvia's mother, good music score (thanks to Gabriel Yared, 'Cold Mountain'), and good period costumes by Sandy Powell ('Shakespeare in Love'). But the film still remains buffled by the enigma of Plath, or her genius.
Movie Review: Not Bad, Not Bad
Summary: 3 Stars
Being a fan of both literature and of film, I expected great things from this film, but what I got was a so-so tale of truly one of the most disturbed poets in American literature. I was very surprised to find that Paltrow's portrayal of Sylvia Plath was, for the most part, somewhat one-dimensional. One does not really see the depth of emotion in Paltrow's performance that one would get from reading Plath's poetry. The show really belongs to Daniel Craig, who, in most of his movies, achieves a sense of being the "mystery man." His Ted Hughes is fantastic, but the film tries to work around taking sides here. Many have blamed Hughes for Plath's eventual suicide, but the film tries to remain neutral, only making things a bit confusing. Are we supposed to like Hughes? Are we supposed to believe that he was the cause of her death? Remember, too, that Plath had already tried to commit suicide twice before. This seems to be one of the faults in John Brownlow's writing. Everyone but the actors seem new to film; Christine Jeffs has only directed one other film, and Brownlow has written for television, but not for film. One of the other faults to this film is bringing in actors like Blythe Danner and Michael Gambon and not giving them a worthwhile part. Danner does work hard at her small role as Plath's mother, as does Gambon as the downstairs neighbor, but anyone could really have done these jobs. When I see extremely talented actors like Gambon and Danner, I expect to see greatness, not small bit parts. Other than these problems, the story was decent, and Craig's acting carried the movie. I wish Focus Features could have delivered something a bit better, but all I have seen is a decent, so-so adaptation of the life of Sylvia Plath.Movie Review: A noble attempt, but it falls short
Summary: 3 Stars
I was concerned when I saw that Paltrow had been cast as Plath, so I avoided seeing this movie for years because I was sure she alone would derail the movie. How wrong of me - it's not that Paltrow isn't miscast, it's that the Plath she's playing isn't quite true to life. Paltrow actually does an excellent job with what she's given.
What's missing? Well, Plath's breezy, bright qualities are almost completely absent, save for some quick scenes at the beginning of the movie that only serve as a quick opportunity to show us how smitten she was with Hughes.
The movie also implies that, during her marriage, she was unable to write and when separated from Ted, she's seen scribbling furiously as though she's finally able to work on the poetry she was destined to unleash. It's clear that her later poems are her strongest because she's tapped into an energy she had not yet realized she possessed, but to imply that her married years weren't fruitful is to be unfair both to Plath and to Ted Hughes. Whether Plath fans like it or not, Sylvia looked to her husband as a mentor (even when she might have been jealous of her success) and he at least played a part in helping her to shape her voice as a writer.
This is a movie that would be critiqued widely no matter how accurate or carefully put together, but it feels like the script focuses on the great hurts inflicted upon Plath both by her mind and by her husband. Her life wasn't easy, but turning it into a spurned-wife melodrama simplifies a woman who was much deeper than that. It's possible to portray Hughes as the villain that he was while also making a movie that glosses over what draws us to Plath the most: her wonderful creative energy.