Vanity Fair (Widescreen)
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.08 You Save: $6.91 (69%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.00 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Vanity Fair (Widescreen)
Movie Review: Wonderful period piece
Summary: 5 Stars
I liked the movie alot. I love period movies and this is the third on my list.Movie Review: Wonderful!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a great movie and I enjoyed it a great deal!
Thank you!
Movie Review: If only this DVD had half of Becky's ambition . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
I loved this movie, which I didn't expect. I had never read the novel, and my interest in seeing it had more to do with the people involved. I was not disappointed by any means with the film itself. Witherspoon gives an amazing performance made even more jaw-dropping by the fact that she was so very, VERY pregnant for pretty much the entire movie. Her pregnancy was worked into the script for a few scenes, but for the most part, they tried to hide it with costumes and oddly-placed or mighty convenient props, or simply made do by shooting her from the waist up. However, her pregnancy gave her not only a glow (I've never thought of her as truly beautiful, but she looks just stunning in this movie) but also a pleasing curve and buxom-ness that not only went better with the period but was a welcome change from the typical Hollywood skinny actress.
Fine performances abound; in fact no one was terrible or wasted. But especial kudos must go to Bob Hoskins and Jim Broadbent because I adore them both and their brilliance is well used in this film. And my hat is COMPLETELY off to Rhys Ifans! I had no IDEA the man could act. In EVERY movie I've ever seen him in, he's A) blonde and B) a complete buffon. I'd written him off as a British Rob Schnieder or something. Now I see how completely wrong I was. His character had me from the moment he gave Amelia the piano, and from then on, Captain Dobbin became the hero of the film for me. I know the novel's not supposed to have a hero, but Captain (later Major) Dobbin really filled the role neatly here, with his long-suffering but steadfast love.
Having never read the novel, I am in a unique place to review the film. I felt that at times it didn't seem quite period (one character uses the phrase "suck up") and it seemed to lack continuity in places (Witherspoon's hair shifts between blonde and strawberry blonde depending on the scene -- did they have colorists back then, or was something wrong with my T.V. screen?) but it was surprisingly funny, and I laughed out loud in places. Best line: "I had thought her a mere social climber. I see now she's a mountaineer." I wanted that line to be the title of my review, but alas, someone beat me to it! Another great one from father-in-law to daughter: "There's no one in this family who doesn't wish you dead!"
The colors in this film are striking, and the lavish costumes and art direction and set design take the breath away. Kudos to Nair for eschewing the stodgy period palatte of black and grey and going full bore with a beautiful array of Indian-inspired finery. Occasionally it all looks a bit too new and bright to be believed, even for upper class people (Their clothes couldn't have been THAT spotless!) but she's not afraid to hose 'em down or rip 'em up a little bit, so it's not too unrealistic.
There are so many characters that I doubt all of them could have had a real resolution in one movie, and I've read book reviews saying that Thackery didn't give many of his characters real resolutions anyhow, so I guess that's par for the course. But I was particularly disappointed about George's character. He's played by the delectable Jonathan Rhys Myers (who scared me to death in "Titus" and made my heart flutter in "Bend It Like Beckham") but he is impossible to figure out. He's a snobby aristocrat, but he won't marry for money alone. He values honor, but he burns the pictures his fiancee sends him. He seems to have nothing but contempt for Amelia but he takes her to wife, and then (SPOILER!) he dies before we can investigate these contradictions. The fact that his scenes with Witherspoon are wonderful to watch, and among the best in the film only fanned the flame of my curiosity about this character, so I was very very disappointed to see him gone so soon.
Witherspoon's relationship with Rawden is well written and even better played by two fine actors. I regret only that Witherspoon's pregnancy prevented her from doing more passionate things with the love scenes. I don't mean nudity, but he obviously had to be careful how he handled her, and it made things a bit awkward. Amelia's character seemed a bit lifeless not just compared to Becky but on the whole. I felt she could have been more interesting, but then I am biased because I loved Dobbin so well.
This movie has a strong resemblance to "Gone With the Wind." I guess Mitchell must have been a fan! She does mention Thackery in her book (Melanie to Ashley: "I like Mr. Thackery, but I fear he is not the gentleman Mr. Dickens is.") so it stands to reason that she would have borrowed a few things. Rhett's first reply to Scarlett's long delayed confession of love is "That's your misfortune," and Rawden repeats it here in a similar scene when he finally tires of Becky's antics. He also tells someone else that "Cats are better mothers" than Becky, another Rhett-ism I thought Mitchell coined. Ah well, live and learn. It's still a great book!
I have rambled for a long time on the movie, but the reason for my subtracting a star has to do with the DVD which I will finally talk about now. There are no real extras! There's a commentary, but it's actually just the director sharing various observations along the lines of "I really like this shot" and "this actor is so good" -- in other words, the usual dirctor's commentary B.S. No wonder Spielberg won't do this stuff. There's chapter selection, but this 2.5 hour movie is given only 18 chapters! This gross oversight forces the viewer to make rather a meal of finding a particular scene. There's also a half-assed "making of" doc that's really not so much "making of" as "here's a look at some of the people involved and what they have to say about the movie." Then there's an even shorter one on the women involved. Interesting, yes, but I for one am equally as interested in the men, and the doc didn't tell me much of anything informative that hadn't already been covered in the other one. There are deleted scenes, but they have no commentary, and they're all played at once instead of letting the viewer decide which ones to watch. I hate it when DVDs do that! The first one is an alternate opening credits sequence which to me seemed indistinguishable from the original. Therefore I viewed with the trepidation the so-called "alternate ending" -- DVDs are always touting this, and it usually turns out to be the same ending with different music or merely features the hero in a different color shirt. However, this one really was totally different. In the "real" ending (SPOILER!) Becky goes off to India with Amelia's weird brother. (I say "real" because apparently it's not that way in the book. But it works here.) The alternate one features Amelia going to her brother-in-law's funeral to try and reconnect with her son, who forgives her for abandoning him. In the first ending, we're lead to believe that she's washed her hands of the boy. I like the second one better. It features an extremely cheesy speech, but it also features her grown-up son, who's HOT and who I was curious to get a look at. Also, forgiveness is divine -- and that's why I forgive the filmmakers for this lame DVD and plan to buy it anyway.
Movie Review: SHE IS NO MERE SOCIAL CLIMBER...SHE IS A MOUNTAINEER...
Summary: 4 Stars
In the role of Becky Sharp, Reese Witherspoon is the linchpin around which this production revolves. Set in nineteenth century England, the film tells the story of Becky Sharpe, a grasping and resourceful beauty, who is determined to avoid the vicissitudes of fate destined for women like her, educated but bereft of family and fortune. While Becky Sharpe is a literary character that everyone traditionally loves to hate, Ms. Witherspoon infuse her with almost too much charm, and the screenplay divests her of some of her most morally jarring moments. Therein lies the rub. The character loses much of what it was that made her memorable. Consequently, this is a watered down, eviscerated version of the character, which causes a major weakness in the film.
Becky, who is an orphan, contrives to scheme and plot her way into society, grasping and avaricious in her desire to climb the social ladder, letting nothing or anyone get in her way. While visiting her best friend, the well-to-do Amelia Sedley (Romola Garai), Becky plans to snare her best friend's socially inept, older brother, Joseph (Tony Maudsley), who is a civil servant for the British Empire in India. Her plan fails, foiled by Amelia's snobbish and callow fiance, George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), but Becky takes her failure in stride. Leaving her friend's home, she goes to work as a governess in the disheveled household of Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskins). There, she meets his enormously wealthy sister, Mathilda (Eileen Atkins), and leaves Sir Pitt Crawley's employ to go and work as her companion. They get along swimmingly, until Becky marries her nephew, Sir Pitt's handsome and dashing second son, Rawdon (James Purefoy), whom his aunt promptly disinherits, a fact unbeknownst to the besotted couple.
Although Becky's star is seemingly on the ascendant, that of the naive Amelia is on the wane, her family having lost their fortune, ruined by the nefarious dealings of her fiance's father (Jim Broadbent). While George initially stays away, leaving Amelia to be comforted by his friend, the kind, good, and faithful Lt. William Dobbin (Rhys Ifans), George ultimately marries her, as he feels that, as a gentleman, he should do so. Love or compassion never enters the equation with him. Becky and Amelia now accompany their respective husbands to Brussels, as their husbands are both in the military during the Napoleonic Wars. At the Battle of Waterloo, the die is cast as to their respective fates.
Once reunited, Becky and Rawdon return to England, living a lavish lifestyle well beyond their means. They then discover his Aunt Mathilda's perfidy upon her death, and their carefully constructed well-to-do facade crumbles around them. While playing a dangerous game of love with one of her many male admirers, the cynical Marquess of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne), who provides financial succor, she finds herself in a compromising position that causes her marriage to go belly up. Becky ultimately finds herself worse off than when she started, having lost everything.
After many years, Becky, now on the skids, ultimately comes face to face with her old friend, Amelia, with whom she appears to have lost touch. She sees that Amelia, however, is living a lie, having deified her now dead husband to the exclusion of her true admirer and secret benefactor, the long suffering Lt. Dobbin. So, Becky performs a charitable act by putting to right something that has gone wrong and restoring to Amelia the only chance she has left at finding happiness. In doing so, Becky finds redemption and a semblance of happiness for herself. The ending is one that Thackeray never envisioned, although in the context of the film, it almost makes sense, given the way that that the Becky Sharpe character has been reshaped.
This 2004 production boasts a stellar good cast, as well as lush costumes and visually stunning cinematography. Moreover, by interjecting the flavor of India throughout the film, the director is not only paying homage to her own Indian roots, but also to those of William Makepeace Thackeray. He was born in India and lived there for the first six years of his life, as his father was employed by the British East India Company. Much of this works, with the exception of the outrageous Bollywood song and dance number. While interesting in the absolute, it casts too dissonant a note in the film, as it is contra to anything a self-respecting nineteenth century woman, especially one as determined to better her social position as Becky is, would do. Although Becky is an audacious character, her audacity is geared towards securing a better position in society, not undermining the precarious one that she already holds.
The film suffers, overall, from a screenplay that has excised those traits that made Becky Sharp such a memorable literary character. This causes the script to not make sense, at times. When, towards the end of the film, Lt. Dobbin rales against the evil and wicked Becky Sharp, the viewer wonders what on earth he is talking about. While Reese Witherspoon's Becky Sharp is one that is cunning and uses poor judgment, at times, there is nothing truly wicked or evil about her. Notwithstanding this, it is still an enjoyable period piece, although certainly not the best adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's famous novel of the same name. Having seen and loved all of director Mira Nair's films, this one is her weakest. At the heart of the problem is not her direction, however, but rather a screenplay that chose to materially change the essence of the lead character.
Movie Review: Reese Witherspoon is more Becky Mild than Becky Sharp
Summary: 4 Stars
"Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?"
William Makepeace Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," first published serially in 1847-48, tells the story of the fortunes of two women, the ambitious and amoral Becky Sharp, the orphaned daughter of a struggling painter and a French opera singer, and the passive Amelia Sedley, the wellborn but sheltered daughter of rich merchant. The two young women meet at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for young ladies, where Becky is a tutor of French and Amelia a student, and become friends. We then follow their intertwined lives as Jane tries to climb the social ladder and Amelia follows the dictates of her heart. "Vanity Fair" is celebrated for Thackeray's disparaging and negative portrait of the upper classes of early 19th-century England. The characters are rather vile, the relationships are hopelessly doomed, and readers who were not the targets of Thackeray's pen have enjoyed it ever since.
The BBC did its most reason mini-series version of "Vanity Fair" in 1998 with Natasha Little as Becky Sharp (Little plays Lady Jane Sheepshanks in this version), having done in 1987 with Eve Matheson and in 1967 with Susan Hampshire. This version has Reese Witherspoon playing Becky Sharp, and while having an American actress play the young woman trying to get into English society does translate into a sense that she is clearly on the outside, she does not really convey the amorality of the character. In this version of "Vanity Fair" Becky comes across as mild rather than sharp. This is not because such a characterization is an inevitable result when a story that is perfectly suited to the length of a mini-series is cut down to a 2 hour and 20 minute movie, but rather because director Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding") and Witherspoon want Becky to be more likeable. However, given that this results in Becky losing her edge, I think it ends up being the film's flaw.
Becky first sets her sight on Joseph Sedley (Tony Maudsley), Amelia's rather simple brother, but discovers that marrying up into a family that is trying to do the same thing is impossible. So she moves on to be the governess in the house of Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskins), where she finds someone who appreciates her in Miss Matilda Crawley (Eileen Atkins). Feeling secure enough to make her move, she focuses her attention on Rawdon Crawley (James Purefoy), Sir Pitt's second son. When Becky tells Rawdon that the only two men who will enter her bedroom are her husband and the doctor he quickly calculates the time involved, takes stock of his own meager abilities, and decides to sneak off and find a minister rather than go to medical school. Unfortunately, the family does not greet the marriage with any joy and Rawdon, who is a compulsive gambler, becomes the quicksand upon which Becky builds her ascent into English society.
Becky Sharp has long been considered the prototype for Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara, but Thackeray's heroine is at a disadvantage in that the closest thing she has to a Rhett Butler is the creepy Marquis of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne). But then the subtitle for the novel was "A Novel Without a Hero." This is not to say that there are not decent blokes running around, but the best of the bunch, William Dobbin (Rhys Ifans), ends up suffering the most. He is in love with Amelia and she takes no more note of his earnest affection and honorable attention than she does the considerable shortcomings of her beloved George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), who is arrogantly self-absorbed.
Amelia is Becky's counterpart in the narrative, but she is reduced to a supporting role simply because for most of the story she is an impoverished widow. While Becky makes her tentative advances into society, Amelia's life becomes depressingly stagnant. It is only in the fate of their sons that the parallel between the two really continues, until the film's climax where their last interaction has a profound affect on the final fate of each character. Nair provides a deus ex machina to add a bit more of a happy ending to Thackeray's novel, but that makes sense given the way Becky Sharp is written and performed in this film.
This version of "Vanity Fair" is a beautiful film, as English costume dramas tend to be. Because she was born in India, just as Thackeray was, Nair introduces visual elements of that culture into the film to make it a bit different from what we have seen before. Yet it is the subdued version of Becky Sharp that ultimately defines the film. When you find yourself wondering if Becky has really become Steyne's mistress or not, you know that this movie is cleaning up her image a bit too much. There is agreement that Reese Witherspoon is a nice person but she lets too much of that inherent niceness color Becky Sharp and the idea that Scarlett O'Hara is a literary descendant is lost.