Sylvia | Review

Unflattering expose on Plath is delivered in a less than revealing portrait.

Poets didn’t have it easy; these starving addicts of the written word had to fight off other menacing forms of literature, letters from “sorry, we are not interested in publishing your work” book publishers and a lackluster public reception of this colorful use of language. First-time director Christine Jeffs gives us a biopic which dully illustrates the tragically short life of American Poet Sylvia Plath.

Sylvia features a relationship between two poets which is jinxed from the start; the screenplay seems key to hammering home this point inside almost every single sequence. The film takes us from the supposed beautiful organic world of poetry which morphs itself into unflattering despair where Gwyneth Paltrow Possession plays the tortured soul, wife and writer and delivers the sort of performance which is carries the weight of the picture and is commendable considering the uninteresting type of character where her death doesn’t come quick enough. The entire make-up of the film shows us how Plath choose the wrong person as her savior, and how the mix of baring two children mixed in with suicidal tendencies, writer’s block and a husband with wandering eye doesn’t help in fostering good thoughts. Unfortunately, the majority of the film is spent trying to detail her life events and doesn’t make us feel to the full extant her resentment and mental tortures.

Tight shots and long takes help create a heavy effect but that doesn’t substitute the boring dialogue and outtakes poetry. Cinematographer John Toon gives the film a dark look, nice interior shots not only covers the look during the era, but also highlights a sense of her torment and helps coordinate the sometimes explosive fights with her hubby. While Ted Hughes played by Daniel Craig (Road to Perdition) has the perfect face for a 20’s or 30’s film noir gangster film or a Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven type of picture, he doesn’t quite fit the bill as a lady’s man good with words. From the start we are told that the two shouldn’t be together and it doesn’t help that the film brings the two together in a fairly quick manner (spending less than 10 minutes to get these two together from memorable introduction to a shot-gun wedding). It was nice to see Paltrow’s mother (Blythe Danner) cast, as well, the mother of Sylvia, but when her character is introduced she is just as quickly shown the exit sign out of the picture such as the Plath children who merely serve as a decorative tool for the film. While Paltrow certainly bears all in her performance, it kind of loses its affect when every single scene goes back to beating the idea of his infidel ways and her paranoia. I’m partially glad that the film didn’t spend too much time on a ton of camera shots acting like a visual lubricant to all the objects of a poet’s world, but I would have liked to have felt a more imminent sense of desperation rather than have Paltrow act in a somewhat delusional state. Furthermore, once the events of the break-up take place I would have loved to have witnessed her new found inspiration, instead we are treated to a couple of pen writing on paper scenes which don’t falls short of addressing in a more meaningful manner the reasons behind the popularity of her final book of poems.

When we get to the finish line, we come with a sentiment of a drama being several layers shy from compounding material and instead of the this year’s The Hours, Sylvia and Ted is such a hard watch that I’d rather have watched Bill and Ted and their bogus adventures.

Rating 1.5 stars