- Actors: David Birkin, Alison Bruce, Amira Casar, Daniel Craig, Blythe Danner
- Directors: Christine Jeffs
- Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English
- Subtitles: Spanish, French
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: R (Restricted) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Universal Studios
- DVD Release Date: 10 Feb 2004
- Run Time: 110 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005JMJD
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 147,799 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
The biting poetry and sad life of poet Sylvia Plath form the story of Sylvia, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. This subtle but fascinating movie centres around Plath's relationship with poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig), with whom she fell aggressively in love while a student at Cambridge. Their relationship proved passionate but rocky; many of Plath's fans blame the depression that eventually led her to suicide on Hughes's infidelity. Sylvia doesn't let Hughes off the hook, but it doesn't paint Plath as a helpless victim either. Paltrow's superb performance captures the poet's fierce jealousy and artistic ambition as much as her debilitating sorrow. The movie makes no big statements about Plath's poetry, letting the troubling details of her life tell their own compelling story. It also features Jared Harris, Blythe Danner and Michael Gambon, and the acting is outstanding all around. --Bret Fetzer
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
It's always a tricky one-trying to give a balanced view of a marriage that none of us was part of and in which the only two participants are dead. Gwyneth Paltrow plays the preppy American abroad to a T, and portrays Sylvia's darker and more complex sides with equal aplomb. Daniel Craig gives a charismatic perfromance as Ted, who was famously attractive to women (even if you see pictures of him in his later years, he still had those piercing hawk like eyes).
The film portrays the inequality of the early sixties- for all its liberalism, she was always going to be overshadowed by her husband. Despite her intelligence and strong character, she was still Ted's wife to their contemporaries. It would be easy to judge Sylvia for her temper and irrational jealousy, but it must have been agony to have always been that suspicious, traumatised, and angry. It would also be easy to judge Ted and simply condemn his infidelity, but what I liked about this film is that you judge them both. She was wrong, he was wrong and at the same time they were both right. Pretty much how marriage goes.
Little touches of authenticity throughout the film make it all the more real: the dirty squalor of the kitchen when they both worked at Smith, the typical intellectual competitiveness amongst young students in the scene where they recite Shakespeare faster and faster, and the amount of blankets they have on the bed during the cold Cambridge winter.
Throughout the film, the wintry atmosphere reigns and London, always good looking in films, looks frozen and inaccessible as towards the end, Sylvia's mental state reduces her to the erratic, suicidal woman she became. It's an essay on the tragedy of mental illness, a literary biography, and a tender love story. Definitely worth buying.
The film portrays the inequality of the early sixties- for all its liberalism, she was always going to be overshadowed by her husband. Despite her intelligence and strong character, she was still Ted's wife to their contemporaries. It would be easy to judge Sylvia for her temper and irrational jealousy, but it must have been agony to have always been that suspicious, traumatised, and angry. It would also be easy to judge Ted and simply condemn his infidelity, but what I liked about this film is that you judge them both. She was wrong, he was wrong and at the same time they were both right. Pretty much how marriage goes.
Little touches of authenticity throughout the film make it all the more real: the dirty squalor of the kitchen when they both worked at Smith, the typical intellectual competitiveness amongst young students in the scene where they recite Shakespeare faster and faster, and the amount of blankets they have on the bed during the cold Cambridge winter.
Throughout the film, the wintry atmosphere reigns and London, always good looking in films, looks frozen and inaccessible as towards the end, Sylvia's mental state reduces her to the erratic, suicidal woman she became. It's an essay on the tragedy of mental illness, a literary biography, and a tender love story. Definitely worth buying.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
As someone who knows nothing about Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes I found this film interesting - entertaining in the form of curiosity, voyerism and sympathy.
It's feel is quite similar to Iris, in that it has an Oxbridge dance near the start, has an informal introduction between the two main characters, and shows (her) mental decline over the subsequent 90 minutes. Some find that unsympathetic and tabloidish, some find it dull, some find it depressing, Plath virgins like myself find it subtle and realistic.
The film for me shows both characters as having faults and inspiration. I read that feminists would not accept any criticism of Plath and blame Hughes for her suicide, but surely such a complex woman deserves responsibility for her actions too, though clearly she has a severe mental illness which, through bitter personal experience, takes an iron clasp to one's emotions and subsequent actions.
There is well crafted tension in the piece, particularly in the dinner scene with their frineds in Devon. All conventions for a quiet English cottage life are taken and then stained with the worst emotion possible to any Englisman - embarressment. The music by Gabriel Yared is, as usual, excellent and wonderfully annotates the film with mood and subtext.
Perhaps it's because I'm uncultured in this area that I didn't have a pre-conception of how the film should be. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe hardly any of it is true to life, but in the end it doesn't matter. This is a movie and in my opinion it delivers.
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
There are many differing opinions on the marriage of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and ultimately the makers of `Sylvia' are not going to please everybody. However, the film was not weighted to either Plath's or Hughes' point of view, holding them both up as great poets who had a great connection, however positive or detrimental that might have been. The relationship between Plath and her mother is also beautifully explored, as is the relationship between Plath and poetry. This is not just about the marriage of Ted and Sylvia.
The casting is magnificent. Both Paltrow and Craig give superb performances and the supporting cast are equally commendable. The film is beautifully presented all round. I loved the use of the colours red and blue to indicate different moods (as in Hughes' poem `Red'). The attention to detail (drawind from both Plath's and Hughes' poetry) is astounding.
`Sylvia' is ambitious in what it attempts to convey but I'm not sure the entire audience get the point. I only wish there had been more poetry in it. Watch with an open mind and a hankie.
A wonderful film.
The casting is magnificent. Both Paltrow and Craig give superb performances and the supporting cast are equally commendable. The film is beautifully presented all round. I loved the use of the colours red and blue to indicate different moods (as in Hughes' poem `Red'). The attention to detail (drawind from both Plath's and Hughes' poetry) is astounding.
`Sylvia' is ambitious in what it attempts to convey but I'm not sure the entire audience get the point. I only wish there had been more poetry in it. Watch with an open mind and a hankie.
A wonderful film.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Can't hear!
Despite the declaration on the info about this DVD there were no subtitles so I could not follow the story. Such a shame, it looked interesting.
Published 1 month ago by Ralph Hill
Poetry and pleasure
You don't have to be familiar with SYLVIA PLATH'S poetry to enjoy this film, which is a sensitive reconstruction of Sylvia's
life and death in England. Read more
life and death in England. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Dr. M. G. Farringdon
Just an hour and a half's entertainment or biography?
Almost a metre and a half of my shelving is devoted to books by or about Plath and Hughes; I approached this film with trepidation, wondering why I was approaching it at all. Read more
Published 8 months ago by RR Waller
Disappointing. Sheds no light on the myth of Sylvia and Ted
Much has been written about the marriage of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes and I was hoping that this film would give some real insight into their dynamic. Unfortunately it didn't. Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2010 by The story fiend
Sylvia
A most excellent film, Daniel Craig & Gwyneth Paltrow at their very best I think these actors played as near to the poets characters as you can get. I would recommend it.
Published on 10 Oct 2009 by V. A. Couceiro
A disservice to Sylvia
I'd have given this movie 3 stars if it weren't for the brilliant performances of its cast. Despite an unforgettable portrayal from Gwyneth Paltrow of a haunted, tormented soul in... Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2008 by Alma Lavandeery
A surprising success
I feel compelled to redress the amount of criticism this film has ensued since it's release. Perhaps being so disturbing in content it draws people to take character sides or to... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2005 by duirsgrove
Emotional
I've read a lot about Sylvia Plath and I was really looking forward to watching this film. In the end I was almost disappointed. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2005 by Mandy
What did you think of the words?
The facts of the matter of Ted and Sylvia are well known, this movie presents them soberly, there are no cranky theories on offer (she may be the only American celebrity the CIA... Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2005 by P. Bryant
depressing to the extreme
Having read the other reviews here, I feel that I must have watched a different film entirely. Given that it was essentially an autobiography, I felt that the characters were not... Read more
Published on 30 May 2005 by Jodi Hesmondhalgh
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