Buy:svetzel
02-18-05, 02:31 PM
I read Aaron Beierle's DVD review of Vanity Fair (2004) at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=14401 and...
I'm sorry to see this excellent film get such harsh criticism from both of the reviews on this site (Beierle's review being by far the kinder of the two). I rented this disc a few days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I should confess that I am a big Reese Witherspoon fan and that I might be more likely to appreciate her performance; but being a fan of hers did not make me anxious to see "Legally Blonde 2." (1 was enough, thank you.)
I know I tend to cringe when a literary adapatation is described as "sumptuous" and a "visual feast," especially when the running time is over 120 minutes. Usually this means the film is pretty but dull.
However, in the case of "Vanity Fair," the movie only took about ten minutes to become engrossing. I did not find overlong and I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Witherspoon's performance. There are some "Bollywood" bits that don't quite fit with the rest of the picture, but that's my only criticism.
I haven't read Thackeray's novel, nor have I seen any previous adapatations, so I can't judge how close this comes to the book. I do know that the character of Becky Sharp has been softened substantially here, and this may offend fans of the book. But frankly, I get tired of women being portrayed as evil, villanous schemers. In Victorian times, a woman who thought for herself and had independence of spirit had to be BAD. You could say this version is modernist revisionism, but in any case it's one of the best films I've seen in the past month and I plan to add it to my collection.
And by the way, it really is visually dazzling, which only adds to the enjoyment of the story.
I'm sorry to see this excellent film get such harsh criticism from both of the reviews on this site (Beierle's review being by far the kinder of the two). I rented this disc a few days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I should confess that I am a big Reese Witherspoon fan and that I might be more likely to appreciate her performance; but being a fan of hers did not make me anxious to see "Legally Blonde 2." (1 was enough, thank you.)
I know I tend to cringe when a literary adapatation is described as "sumptuous" and a "visual feast," especially when the running time is over 120 minutes. Usually this means the film is pretty but dull.
However, in the case of "Vanity Fair," the movie only took about ten minutes to become engrossing. I did not find overlong and I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Witherspoon's performance. There are some "Bollywood" bits that don't quite fit with the rest of the picture, but that's my only criticism.
I haven't read Thackeray's novel, nor have I seen any previous adapatations, so I can't judge how close this comes to the book. I do know that the character of Becky Sharp has been softened substantially here, and this may offend fans of the book. But frankly, I get tired of women being portrayed as evil, villanous schemers. In Victorian times, a woman who thought for herself and had independence of spirit had to be BAD. You could say this version is modernist revisionism, but in any case it's one of the best films I've seen in the past month and I plan to add it to my collection.
And by the way, it really is visually dazzling, which only adds to the enjoyment of the story.