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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)
Bubble View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
N/R

Geoff Andrew

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 24 2006 03:20 AM

Time Out

tomato
76/100

Joe Utichi

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 20 2004 01:31 PM

FilmFocus

tomato
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 14 2004 08:16 AM

Empire Magazine

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 09 2004 08:17 AM

Guardian [UK]

tomato
3/5

Matthew Turner

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 14 2004 08:03 AM

ViewLondon

splat

Christopher Tookey

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 31 2004 08:09 AM

Daily Mail [UK]

tomato
4/5

Nev Pierce

Atmospheric, elegant and thoughtful.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 05 2003 08:07 AM

BBC

tomato
3.5/5

Rich Cline

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: | comment Comment | Nov., 09 2003 08:03 AM

Shadows on the Wall

N/R

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 29 2009 03:15 AM

Cinema Crazed

N/R

Urban Cinefile Critics

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 03:23 AM

Urban Cinefile

splat
2/5

Mark Halverson

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 07 2008 03:15 AM

Sacramento News & Review

splat
82/100

Philip Martin

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: | comment 1 Comment | Nov., 25 2007 07:54 AM

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

N/R

David Ansen

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 01 2007 03:15 AM

Newsweek

splat
2/4

Wesley Lovell

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 08 2006 07:12 AM

Oscar Guy

tomato
4/5

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 09 2006 03:15 AM

Film Threat

tomato
84/100

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 13 2005 03:16 AM

Apollo Guide

splat
2/5

Rachel Gordon

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 31 2004 10:16 PM

Filmcritic.com

splat
2/5

Kent Turner

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 20 2004 02:22 PM

Film-Forward.com

tomato

Thomas Delapa

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 09 2004 05:05 PM

Boulder Weekly

tomato
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 02 2004 05:04 PM

Sunday Times (Australia)

 
 
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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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