Plath was more than just Hughes' wife

jem132

Not really disappointing viewing, given I was well aware of the critical and commercial caning this copped on release, but as a fan of Plath I was left wistfully wanting more. A more appropriate title for Christine Jeffs' film would have been "Ted and Sylvia" as we only pick up poet Sylvia Plath's (Gwyneth Paltrow) life from the time when she met fellow poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig). The film charts the passionate yet rocky relationship of the literary couple, with Hughes' extra-marital affairs and Plath's mental instabilities causing the marriage to breakdown. We all know how it ends of course, with Plath's suicide.

"Sylvia" has much of the same problems that the recent John Maybury film looking at Dylan Thomas' life and loves, "The Edge Of Love", had. At times its beautiful and haunting, but really just inconsequential overall. We spend so much time with Plath and Hughes but we never really get close to either of them. Plath was not just a tragic talent, her poetry and novel are filled with disturbing, blunt images but also a great raw passion for experience and life. The film becomes a dreary look at adultery rather than showing us anything new about Plath, or her relationship with Hughes. Paltrow and Craig are rather good in their roles, but are let down by the writing (how ironic!)The film goes around in circles but we never really get anywhere.

score 5/10

jem132 11 May 2009

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2064701/