|
SYLVIA Send This Review to a Friend
Gwyneth Paltrow gives such a moving, nuance-filled performance as poet and novelist Sylvia Plath in "Sylvia" that she absolutely deserves to be considered for every actress award around. Daniel Craig makes an intriguing Ted Hughes, the poet who was the love of the doomed Sylvia's life.
Director Christine Jeffs, with a screenplay by John Brownlow, focuses on Plath's hunger for success, her emotional distress that led to suicide, her turbulent relationship with Hughes and the sadness of her fate. The film has been well researched, but how close the story is to truth isn't the point. Obviously imagination was at work in turning it into viable drama, and as Plath has become an icon to many who feel passionately about her and what her work represented, viewers may have their own take on the interpretation.
Paltrow nails down youthful enthusiasm in the early scenes in England, where she meets Hughes and finds an instant attraction for him. She also expresses Plath's frustration with her career, especially in relation to Hughes getting greater recognition. She is fierce in her anger and jealousy at his betrayal of their love. She can be radiant or despondent, and she makes us very aware of Plath's hunger for love as well as for recognition.
Amira Casar is strong as Assia Wevill, the woman with whom Hughes falls in love, although the film doesn't deal with later complications and the subsequent suicide of Wevill in the same manner as that of Plath. Michael Gambon, although in a relatively small role, adds solidity with his depiction of a sympathetic neighbor bewildered at Plath's despondency. Blythe Danner, who in real life is Paltrow's mother, does a good job as Plath's mother, who is both protective and, at least in Plath's eyes, not satisfying the poet's need for approval.
It is a pleasure to find a film that recognizes the excitement that writing poetry can engender for those in the throes of its creation. How many films do you find with such concerns? It is difficult to dramatize the work of writers, but some of the passion is reflected in a scene with Plath and her colleagues, and during the course of the drama quotes from her writing are interspersed. The film refers to her influential novel, "The Bell Jar," which was published in England while she was alive, but only was published in the United States after her death.
"Sylvia," exquisitely shot but over-scored, is a sad film as a result of how tragically the writer's life ended. It is also a film that engages the intellect as well as the heart. A Focus Features release.
|