The Internet Movie Database describes Vanity Fair this way: “Growing up poor in London, Becky Sharp (Witherspoon) defies her poverty-stricken background and ascends the social ladder alongside her best friend, Amelia.” While too simplistic, this description is fairly accurate.
As I mentioned in an earlier post the reviews for Vanity Fair have been mixed. And now having seen the film, I can understand why. Despite a couple of major shortcomings to this film, there are just too many positives to ignore.
Take for example the characters. Many films (even very good ones) make the mistake of serving us with 2 dimensional characters that are nothing more than archetype vessels used to deliver the story. In contrast, Vanity Fair derives it’s powerful charm from the strength of it’s multi-dimensional, rich and often complex characters. There are at least 8 beautifully crafted characters, full of power, emotions, and struggles. These characters are the life blood of Vanity Fair and it’s major strength. None of the “good guys” are entirely good, none of the “bad guys” are entirely bad… life is more complicated than that and Vanity Fair ultimately becomes more endearing to us because we identify with this universal truth.
The cast is the second positive element of the film. I’ll go on record right now and say I’d be shocked if the cast of Vanity Fair doesn’t at least get nominated for the Screen Actors Guild “Best Ensemble” award. From Reese Witherspoon, Gabriel Byrne (this man may be the coolest human being on earth), Bob Hoskins, Jim Broadbent (just how amazing is this guy?), Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (blew me away), James Purefoy, Douglas Hodge, Eileen Atkins (killer killer killer performance. My early pick for best supporting actress), and on and on. This cast took an extremely challenging set of characters and brought them to exquisite life. My hats off to them, and to those responsible for casting them.
Here’s where things get a bit fuzzy. Half way through the film I was AMAZED. I loved it. The story was fluid, well paced and well told. The characters were charming and the dialog was witty and engaging. But then, close to halfway through the film it hit a bump. The story suddenly became a bit disjointed. What was smooth and engaging suddenly became uneven. Scenes started to almost randomly shift from place to place… character to character without rhyme or reason. It felt like the story teller around our proverbial campfire had gotten drunk half way through the tale and started jumping around out of sequence. This was a real distraction for me, and ultimately brought the enjoyment of the film down several notches.
I have never read the book, so I can’t attest to it’s accuracy or faithfulness. Vanity Fair is a character driven film that succeeds in many way… but falls short in it’s telling of the tale. I still enjoyed it, and trust you will too. I give Vanity Fair a respectable 6.5 / 10
