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Sylvia

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Sylvia (2003)

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Reviews Counted:124

Fresh:45

Rotten:79

Average Rating:5.3/10

Consensus: This biopic about Sylvia Plath doesn't rise above the level of highbrow melodrama.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for sexuality/nudity and language

Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:30-01-2004

Synopsis: Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow stars in Sylvia as legendary American author and poet Sylvia Plath, opposite Daniel Craig as British Poet Laureate Edward (Ted) Hughes. Sylvia explores the... Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow stars in Sylvia as legendary American author and poet Sylvia Plath, opposite Daniel Craig as British Poet Laureate Edward (Ted) Hughes. Sylvia explores the source of creative genius, and love in all its passions. Ted and Sylvia were a sensual, volatile, and brilliant married couple who emerged as two of the most influential writers of the 20th century. The film begins in 1956. Sylvia is in England on a Fulbright Scholarship when she meets Ted. The attraction is immediate and mutual. It is a meeting not only of the minds, but of an intense physicality as well. Within four months, they are married. When her studies are completed, Sylvia is offered a teaching post back in America. She accepts, and the couple relocates. A working wife, Sylvia must also tend to her unique voice or risk losing it. The newly published Ted attracts the attention of the literary world, along with the attentions of admiring women. Retuning to England in the late 1959, Sylvia and Ted attempt to renew their commitment, first with the birth of one child and then another. But as the marriage frays anew and Ted's literary stature overshadows her own, Sylvia's creative impulses surge. She funnels her fury and passion into her work, and her writing begins to flow forth in unstoppable bursts. "I really reel like God is speaking through me," she exults. Her destiny -- and Ted's, inextricably intertwined with hers -- is at hand... -- © Focus Features [More]

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Jared Harris, Blythe Danner

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Jared Harris, Blythe Danner, Michael Gambon

Director: Christine Jeffs

Director: Christine Jeffs
Screenwriter: John Brownlow
Producer: Alison Owen
Composer: Gabriel Yared
Studio: Focus Features

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Reviews for Sylvia

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Gwyneth Paltrow is a shining star and plays a faultless dramatic role.

Full Review Source: FilmFocus | comment Comment
07/20/04
Joe Utichi
Joe Utichi
FilmFocus

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
05/14/04
Empire Magazine
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
04/09/04
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
02/14/04
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

It lacks an incisive viewpoint and keeps us emotionally at arm's length.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
01/31/04
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

Atmospheric, elegant and thoughtful.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
12/05/03
Nev Pierce
Nev Pierce
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Has the requisite dark tone and superb performances, but it feels simplistic in its examination of the tortured mind of a gifted woman

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
11/09/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

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Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Mark Halverson
Mark Halverson
Sacramento News & Review

Plath might have been the stupid cow that Paltrow plays, the stubbornly ambitious, jealous demonbit genius discontent, immune to the ordinary joys of life.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment 1 Comment
11/25/07
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
11/01/07
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek

Gwyneth Paltrow is anything but engaging in this rarely interesting look at the life of author Sylvia Plath.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
08/08/06
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/09/06
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
05/13/05
Apollo Guide
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Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/31/04
Rachel Gordon
Rachel Gordon
Filmcritic.com

Paltrow provides the depth that the script lacks, making a lot from very little.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
04/20/04
Kent Turner
Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com

When it’s all said and done, Plath had the courage of her convictions, and so does this honest movie.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
02/09/04
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (Australia) | comment Comment
02/02/04
Sunday Times (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Sylvia

October 14, 2005: It's Official: Daniel Craig is 007
ComingSoon.net shares with us the long-in-coming announcement, and it's one that shouldn't stun any of the astute movie geeks: British actor Daniel Craig has been signed to play... More...

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