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There is a school of rather Philistine thought that espouses the proposition that the world needs poetry like a goldfish needs a pair of Nikes.Judging from other comments on "Sylvia" this is not a view shared by many of those who took the trouble to write about it,but perhaps it should be remembered the the mainstream moviegoer may consider it a little - well,perhaps esoteric is the word I'm looking for. It should not be a cause for great surprise therefore that it was hardly a box-office smash.Ostensibly a film about two self-absorbed,not particularly likable Cambridge graduates who screw each others lives up whilst poncing about in punts is going to appeal mainly to those to whom poncing about in punts is either an ambition or a fond memory. As you may have gathered from the aforegoing I am in no way qualified to discourse on the works of Mr Hughes and Ms Plath,but as human beings they had a shitload of problems.They were two people who should never have been allowed within a hundred miles of one another,their marriage swiftly became a disaster waiting to happen. Marital infidelity,mental decline,depression and suicide followed all too swiftly,establishing Ms Plath as an icon of the Feminism movement and reassuring its followers that all men are indeed bastards. "Sylvia" is competently enough made in most departments all though like other reviewers I found the use of music tiresome on several occasions. What it lacks is something to pull it out of the usual "two poets in love but destroying each other "rut.If Ted and Sylvia could have been played by Robert Mitchum and Lana Turner and Douglas Sirk persuaded to direct them I would have happily paid good money to see it.
score 5/10
ianlouisiana 27 August 2006
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1459370/ |
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20-2-2021 12:05:06