"Sylvia" a disappointment...

As a Sylvia Plath fan, I was pretty disappointed with "Sylvia" (2003). First of all, it wasn't that great of a movie. Terrible? No. But I understand now why I had probably never heard of it before. But what really disappointed me was the portrayal of Plath and her mental state.

"Sylvia," directed by Christine Jeffs focuses on Plath's (Gwenyth Paltrow) relationship with British poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig). The movie begins in 1956, while Plath is attending Cambridge on a Fulbright Scholarship. Hughes and Plath meet within the first ten or so minutes of the film, giving viewers no time to get to know Plath beyond her relationship with Hughes. Furthermore, their relationship is rushed through much too quickly. While this makes sense, as Plath and Hughes did immediately develop mutual feelings for and attraction toward each other and were married in four months, the chemistry just wasn't there in the film.

Perhaps there just wasn't any chemistry between Paltrow and Craig, but it felt as if it was Craig who was bringing Paltrow down. He didn't seem to portray Hughes with any depth. However, the portrayal of their relationship had its moments. The movie portrayed the volatility of their relationship well, as the two fought one night over Plath's suspicions that Hughes was cheating on her, only to wake up the next morning, apologize, and immediately return to their intimate understanding of and passion toward each other. The movie also portrayed well the poets' struggle to constantly create poetry as well as Plath's insecurity about her own poetry, being married to a highly productive poet whose poetry was frequently published and won prizes.

So what is it exactly that bothered me about this film? Knowing as much about Plath as I do, it was frustrating to watch a film that focused almost purely on Plath in relation to Hughes. Of course, there is nothing wrong with focusing on that part of her life. However, the film's way of focusing on their relationship made it look like Plath, her mental state, and her poetry (and ultimately, her suicide) were all defined by her relationship with Hughes. True, their separation did play a role in the depressive state she went through at the end of her life. And true, her most acclaimed and darkest poetry did come after their separation. But there was much more to Plath's manic depression, to the confessional and dark quality of her poetry, than her heartbreaking relationship with Hughes. The only hints of Plath's depression through out her life and its effect on her poetry, before Hughes, that are given in the movie is when she mentions her previous two suicide attempts to Hughes.

I wanted to see more Plath and her poetry. I wanted to see more Plath and her crawl in and out of depression through out her life. I wanted more Plath, not Plath and Hughes.

However, once Hughes and Plath separated in the film, the story began to focus more on Plath, her poetry, and her mental state. This was the part of the film I enjoyed most, even though it isn't seen until the last thirty minutes or so of the film. But again, since we only see this side of Plath after her separation from Hughes, it gives the false idea that Plath's depression and strong poetic voice were purely a result of her separation from Hughes.

Overall, the film was...ok (my exact word would be "Meh...") I was worried that having Plath played by an actress as famous as Paltrow would overshadow the portrayal of Plath, but she took on the challenge of portraying someone with such a complex mind well. The opening of the film (and by opening, I mean the first 2-3 minutes) was also brilliant: Paltrow as Plath lying dead in a morgue; a close up of her face, turned to the side; softly haunting music; and a voice over of Platrow reciting lines from Plath's "Lady Lazarus" - "Dying / Is an art, like everything else. / I do it exceptionally well. / I do it so it feels like hell. / I do it so it feels real. / I guess you could say I've a call." Too bad the rest of the film did not follow that brilliant set up of the life, struggles, and mental state of Plath and how it effected her writing and her poetic voice.

Still, I would recommend that Plath fans see this movie at least once, as it does give an accurate portrayal of Plath at times. And Paltrow plays the part so well, it's almost as if you're watching Plath herself. However, I would not recommend this movie to people who do not know much about Plath. Yes, it would be less disappointing to non-Plath fans since they would not notice the same downfalls of the movie as I did. What it would do, however, is give people who do not know much or anything about her the wrong idea of who she was.