neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Sylvia
	Christine Jeffs Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Amira Casar, Blythe Danner, Lucy Davenport, Michael Gambon, Jared Harris, Eliza Wade 2003		It had to be an easy decision to choose Gwyneth Paltrow for the part of iconic author and poet Sylvia Plath in the movie bio "Sylvia." The slim, blonde, patrician Paltrow is credible, offering up the tremulous neuroses and thwarted desire that consumed Plath until her tragic life story ended in suicide. But Paltrow alone isn't enough to save the wan "Sylvia." It starts off in 1956, when Plath, a brittle, bright upper-crust Yankee gal, is in England on scholarship and meets spirited British writer Ted Hughes (rumpled, handsome Daniel Craig), who will become his country's poet laureate. Soulmates, the two fall in love, marry and pursue their respective literary careers, but Hughes' fame eclipses Plath's. Female fans hit on Hughes, and insecurity eats away at Plath. Their union is troubled. The film implies reasons for Plath's psychological problems (the competition with Hughes for literary acclaim; Hughes' infidelities; a distant, demanding parent), yet never pinpoints the origin or gets to the core of her dementia. For all the turbulence in the Hughes/Plath marriage, "Sylvia," a study of a gifted person's battle with her inner demons, is rather inert. But it was genius to cast Gwyneth's mom, Blythe Danner, as Sylvia's mother.