VANITY FAIR (2004)
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2004 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
"What I want to make is a set of people living without God in the world--greedy,
pompous men, perfectly self-satisfied for the most part, and at ease about their
superior virtue," maintained William Makepeace Thackeray while writing his celebrated
novel "Vanity Fair." To that end he succeeded of course, although this speaks
nothing of the women of the piece, least of all the young opportunist at its
center, one Becky Sharp, a clever and manipulative girl born into poverty who
determinedly schemes to better herself.
It's no surprise, therefore, to be reminded of the book's complete title,
"Vanity Fair, A Novel without a Hero."
For a story without a hero, no matter how deliberately appointed, is much
like a heroine without a heart: no matter how much we try to relate to or identify
with or consider ourselves in Becky's disengaged position we can only truly
observe. And this is certainly true of the novel's latest cinematic rendering
courtesy "Monsoon Wedding"'s Mira Nair.
Becky (played by Reese Witherspoon), Sharp of name and sharp of mind, manages
to rise above her humble upbringings through sheer force of will. Appointed
as governess to the country estate of Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskins), Becky
is taken under the wing of elderly Aunt Matilda (a delightful Eileen Atkins)
who, recognizing the young girl's quick wit and temperament, bustles her off
to London and watches as Becky turns social climbing into the fine art of mountaineering!
Having been previously unable to win the hand of Joseph Sedley (Tony Maudsley),
the rich yet exceedingly dim brother of her best friend from boarding-school
Amelia (Romola Garai), Becky turns her considerable attentions to Sir Pitt's
younger son Rawdon (James Purefoy), slyly marrying him before engaging his suspicions
when wealthy benefactor Lord Steyne (Gabriel Byrne), to whom she sold a painting
of her mother as a child, comes to call.
While Witherspoon was pluckily perfect as Elle Woods in the "Legally Blonde"
films, her Becky Sharp leaves much to be desired (I couldn't help wonder what
Nicole Kidman might have done with this part). The role calls for a strength
of character Witherspoon is simply unable to convey. Her male counterparts
fare better--including Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Rhys Ifans as Amelia's suitors--but
it's a tall order to win the audience's empathy when you're playing greedy,
superior, self-satisfied men.
Nair's imagining, while technically competent, is neither engaging nor
socially observant. Worse still it's often dull as dishwater, dispassionately
detached, a soulless affair without a champion (Matthew Faulk, Julian Fellowes,
and Mark Skeet penned the script so maybe they're partly to blame). There's
very little drama to speak of, few moments when tensions are raised, or when
passions erupt... although I did enjoy the scene in which Byrne's Steyne gives
his stuck-up family a wicked tongue-lashing over the dinner table.
"Vanity Fair" (the book) demands grandeur, opulent parties and ornate costumes
sporting much décolletage and while both are very much in evidence, "Vanity
Fair" (the movie) feels like a sumptuous masque to which nobody bothered to
invite the guest of honor. The outfits are grand (as are the surroundings)
and the genteel go through their carefully crafted motions with a certain politeness
but there's really no real reason for anyone to be there.
It's an elaborate but empty entertainment.
--
David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net
Got beef? Visit "La Movie Boeuf"
online at http://members.dca.net/dnb
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38639 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1321524 X-RT-TitleID: 1135805 X-RT-SourceID: 878 X-RT-AuthorID: 1393 X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4
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