Vanity Fair Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)September 8th, 2004
Vanity Fair
Matinee with Snacks
In preparation for this film, a Georgian period novel which I had not read, I slogged through the miserable experience of reading William Makepeace Thackeray's novel on which this film is based. My only terror, after seeing this delightful, vibrant, and exciting movie, is that someone will be inspired to read the book after seeing director Mira "Monsoon Wedding" Nair's and screenwriters Matthew Faulk's and Julian Fellowes' fantastic and beautiful adaptation of a book otherwise better forgotten.
A whole essay or thesis could be written on why this book fails its genre - but then I think about the spate of chick-lit books which are really modern renditions of this form. Chock full of period-only references and colloquialisms that probably went out of fashion in only 10 years, never mind 200, Vanity Fair is just like any pastel-covered treatise on the romantic trials of the Manolo'ed smoking fashion editors of today. To its credit, Vanity Fair introduces the scrabbling, desperate cleverness of Scarlett O'Hara a few decades early. Enter Reese Witherspoon, comely poster child for the determined, smart scrappers of all eras, as Becky Sharp, the ostensible anti-heroine of Vanity Fair who social climbs her way into notoriety and affects everyone around her, for good and for bad. She's actually far more sympathetic on screen than she is in the novel, just like Ms. O'Hara.
Nair, Faulk, and Fellowes make better use of visuals to explain the complex social norms that made Sharp's past and present so scandalous. In a room of identically gowned, vapid snobs, Witherspoon blazes bravely in, clad in decadent red, despite all common knowledge, and rules the room again. Vanity Fair the film is informed by Nair's unique understanding of the Indian caste system, and the beautiful aesthetic of her native land. Textures and colors and feathers and glittery ornaments entrance the eye while clearly designating character in a way the text neglects to clarify. This brings new life to a book where beige and slightly less beige are contrasted as sheer scandal in difference.
Witherspoon herself owns this part and rolls around in it like a lottery winner in dollar bills on a bed. Even concealing her 5 months worth of pregnancy, she is quick and fit and bursting with life and energy. The rest of the casting is simply perfect - if anything it gives away a little too much character too soon, in the case of (Rhys-davies?) as George Osborne. Rhys Ifans gets the meaty role of Dobbin and eliminates Notting Hill's Spike from our minds once and for all. Everyone is perfect, perfect. Makepeace Thackeray's book is heavy with class-specific dialogue and again, screenwriter XXXX turns the period slang into character tics that are tangible to us modern audiences. It's a real feat to see. The writers also slice up the film perfectly and to its essence while adding new elements that make this film truly its own work of art.
Another brilliant Focus Features entry. Honestly, is there nothing they can't do?
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These reviews (c) 2004 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
