Sylvia

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A dramatic true story. Rated R (for nudity, language and some sexuality). Focus Features. Running time: 110 minutes.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="588"><div> <B> A study in depression</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> I suspect there are many people who have never heard of Sylvia Plath, and those who view this film in that kind of vacuum will find "Sylvia" a confusing downer. Actually, even those familiar with the brief life of this 20<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century American poet will find this film a relentless study in depression.  Not a movie many will rush to see a second time, "Sylvia" is a film that wallows in its lead character's self-pity, making the audience long for her to finally end it all.</div> <div>    </div> <div> Sylvia's happiest times, according to the film, were her college years when she met poet Ted Hughes, a brooding Heathcliff-type, whose rugged good looks spelled chick magnet. For laughs the couple and their friends would see who could recite poetry the fastest. Odder still, Sylvia woos Ted on a boat ride by performing Chaucer to the grazing onshore cows.  Not your typical crowd-pleaser, "Sylvia" depends on an audience who can suspend disbelief and imagine that there really are people out there who get off on a well-written verse.  </div> <bR> <div> The bright colors and upbeat lighting disappear when the twosome weds. Sylvia sinks into a depression, sparked by an all-consuming jealousy and suspicion that Ted is unfaithful.  Of course, Ted's writings have garnered good reviews and his university coeds are enthralled by his magnetism. Meanwhile, Sylvia collects rejection slips, has two children and slips deeper into depression. Finally, when Ted does fall off the fidelity wagon, she sticks her head in an oven and ends it all. She was only 32.</div> <div>    </div> <div> Everything about the film is a bummer. Their apartments are dark, painted mustard yellow or grayish shades of green and brown with jarring high gloss enamel. Lighting is minimal, emphasizing the shadows. Sylvia sports extreme hairdos and wears formless heavy plaid wool skirts and bulky sweaters in dull, non-colors. Mud surrounds their home, itself a cold, stone edifice. Who wouldn't be melancholy?</div> <div>    </div> <div> Paltrow does what she can with this one note script but the majority of her screen time is spent staring out into space, looking…well, depressed. She hasn't any friends; she has driven everyone away. Even her own mother (Blythe Danner, Gwyneth's actual mom) is uncomfortable with her, and forewarns Tom that Sylvia is a fragile soul. </div> <div>    </div> <div> The genius behind Plath's intense writings is never fully developed. Brief readings of some excerpts pop up occasionally-the ending of the biting "Daddy" perhaps the most effective. That is unfortunate because this blazing-albeit heavy-handed<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >¾</FONT>literary force deserves a better "read." As it is, "Sylvia" is a downer all the way, emphasizing her marital and mental health problems over her literary achievements.   </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Cathy Edsey Collins © 2003</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>cathy@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>