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Movies / On DVD / Sylvia
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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21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Not the last word on the subject by any means, but it is a solid entry into the canon that sensibly resists beatification or crucifixion of the Ariel poet.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
01/15/04
Catharine Tunnacliffe
Catharine Tunnacliffe
eye WEEKLY

Good as Paltrow is, Sylvia reduces an intensely brilliant, haunted writer into a weepy, morose slacker whose overriding concern is where her husband is at all hours.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
01/14/04
Stacie Hougland
Stacie Hougland
Hollywood.com

If movies were regulated like medications, the label for "Sylvia" would say: "Warning: This film is so depressing it will suck every ounce of holiday cheer from your soul."

Full Review Source: Des Moines Register | comment Comment
12/19/03
Jeffrey Bruner
Jeffrey Bruner
Des Moines Register

Well acted and seriously mounted, but Sylvia the movie is, nevertheless, very boring.

Full Review Source: Film Experience | comment Comment
12/18/03
Nathaniel Rogers
Nathaniel Rogers
Film Experience

Paltrow moves us as Plath, bringing poignant humanity to the character.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
12/11/03
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Excruciatingly dull. I shouted, “Hurry up and ice yourself already!” more than a few times.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
12/11/03
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

Since the filmmakers had no access to the private self as expressed in Plath's body of work, Sylvia is limited to her public life, which was her death. The result feels like art imitating life, once removed.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
12/05/03
Duane Dudek
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A literary la-bore of love

Full Review Source: Pasadena Weekly | comment Comment
12/01/03
John Esther
John Esther
Pasadena Weekly

Cut through the enlightened pretense and it’s Access Hollywood for people who eat pizza with a fork.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
11/21/03
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

The overwhelmingly dark tone and bleak subject matter make this one of the most difficult-to-watch films in recent memory.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
11/21/03
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

While [the movie] catalogs the stormy ups-and-downs of their marriage, [it does] little to illuminate Plath's writing or her fragile mental state.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
11/21/03
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

In turning the poet's life into a package, the filmmakers have done a disservice both to her memory and to their audience.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Weekly | comment Comment
11/21/03
Josh Bell
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly

She sure was sad. Boy, look how sad she was. She must be bipolar or manic depressive or something. Sad, sad, sad. Oh, and then she killed herself. Sad, sad, sad.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
11/20/03
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Gwyneth Paltrow, who has never made a secret of her obsession with Plath, turns in a worshipfully calculated and awards-worthy performance as her idol.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
11/20/03
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

To what degree this portrayal is accurate is beside the question — as drama it's inert, and as biography it's unilluminating.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
11/17/03
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

This is one of the better made and more believable films about poets, one that should be cherished for its rich depiction of its subjects.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/15/03
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

This could be very dreary stuff if it weren't for Gwyneth Paltrow, who is pitch perfect as Plath.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
11/14/03
Richard C. Walls
Richard C. Walls
Orlando Weekly

A prestige picture that doesn't have a lot going for it beyond its serious intentions.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
11/13/03
Jay Boyar
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New Republic | comment Comment
11/12/03
Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann
New Republic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
11/11/03
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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Latest News for Sylvia

October 14, 2005: It's Official: Daniel Craig is 007
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