Sylvia (2003)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Christine Jeffs

Writer:

John Brownlow (writer)

Release Date:

16 January 2004 (Greece)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Life was too small to contain her...

Plot:

Story of the relationship between the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

Plot Keywords:

Poet | Marriage | Infidelity | Poetry | Jealousy

Awards:

1 win

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 25	11:45 PM	PBS
Wed. July 29	1:30 AM	PBS

Cast

David Birkin	...	Morecambe
Alison Bruce	...	Elizabeth
Amira Casar	...	Assia Wevill
Daniel Craig	...	Ted Hughes
Blythe Danner	...	Aurelia Plath
Lucy Davenport	...	Doreen
Julian Firth	...	James Michie
Jeremy Fowlds	...	Mr. Robinson
Michael Gambon	...	Professor Thomas
Sarah Guyler	...	Ted's Cambridge Girlfriend
Jared Harris	...	Al Alvarez
Andrew Havill	...	David Wevill
Theresa Healey	...	3rd Woman at Ted Hughes' Lecture
Liddy Holloway	...	Martha Bergstrom
Robyn Malcolm	...	1st Woman at Ted Hughes' Lecture

Also Known As:

Ted and Sylvia (USA) (working title)
The Beekeeper's Daughter (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality/nudity and language.

Runtime:

110 min | USA:100 min | Canada:114 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:6 | Portugal:M/16 | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Japan:R-15 | Norway:15 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | South Korea:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Cornwall, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

Most of the extras in the opening scenes in Cambridge were, like Plath herself, students of the University of Cambridge.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film begins with the time that Sylvia and Ted met, and the trees are shown in autumn colors with falling leaves. However, Sylvia and Ted met in late winter, February of 1956, when the trees would have been bare.

Quotes:

Ted: I'm sorry...
Sylvia: What for?
Ted: I don't know yet...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Becoming Bond (2006) (TV)

fairly good and entertaining

After viewing the film on Sylvia Plath, I felt a need to read about this poet and find out exactly what Hollywood did with it. As usual, Hollywood transformed a person's life into what an audience would want to be amused by. Mr. Hughes is personified as a womanizer and adulterer, the later of which may be true. After reading two biographies of Ms. Plath by Linda W. Wagner-Martin and Anne Stevenson and of course having studied Ms. Plath's poetry, I feel that the film, albeit entertaining does not depict her actual identity. It does a marginal account of her life, or part of her life. As any human being, Ms. Plath suffered from many demons. If you ascribe to an astrological standpoint (as Mr. and Mrs. Hughes did) you will find that Sylvia was doomed by her astrological sign, Scorpio. Those of you who are Scorpios know that there is a dark side to this sign. She set her expectations too high of most things and considered the failure of loyalty from her friends and family detrimental. Her experiences with depression only added fuel to the flame. Had she lived in modern times, maybe the newer therapies could have helped her. Depression is a severe affliction and may make a great poet, but for everyday living it can render a person helpless. It can make one helpless with dealing with marriage and children, life in general, and one's occupation. Sylvia Plath was a victim of her depression, her personality overreacting to life and her relationships. Unfortunately, she could not work her way through her inner problems and suffered the result of her mental blockage. Fortunately, for her children, they were unharmed by her mental illness and subsequent actions, and were eventually raised by their father. No one is to blame... no one is superhuman. If standards are set too high for anyone, as Sylvia set for herself, anyone is doomed to failure. We do have her poetry and novel(s) to see her inner self, which no film can properly depict.