Vanity Fair (2004)

Directed by: Mia Nair | 135 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Reese Witherspoon, Gabriel Byrne, Romola Garai, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, James Purefoy, Rhys Ifans, Tony Maudsley, Deborah Findlay, John Franklin-Robbins, Paul Bazely, Bob Hoskins, Douglas Hodge, Meg Wynn Owen, Georgina Edmonds, Emilie Richardson Geraldine McEwan, Natasha Little, Eileen Atkins, Helen Coker, Jim Broadbent, Sophie Hunter, Ruth Sheen, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Angelica Mandy, Kate Fleetwood, Lillette Dubey, Charlie Beall, David Sterne, Tim Preece, Tim Seely, Paul Bentall Sean McKenzie, Kathryn Drysdale, John Woodvine, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Nicholas Jones, Sian Thomas, Trevor Cooper, Brian Pettifer, Steven Elder, Gabrielle Lloyd, William Melling, Daniel Hay, Niall OBrien, Anu Gopalakrishnan, Tom Beard, Roma Edmonds Gledis Cimque, Thomas Grant, Kelly Hunter, Camilla Rutherford, Alexandra Staden, Jonny Phillips, Richard McCabe, Virendra Saxena, Bruce Mackinnon, Matthew Horne, Tim Bentinck, Andrew Price, Tom Sturridge, Jade Ramsey, Nikita Ramsey, Robert Pattinson

In 1998 the BBC released a wonderful film adaptation of the 1847/1848 book ‘Vanity Fair’ by the writer William Makepeace Thackeray. A Hollywood film adaptation of this book was released in 2004. While it’s an entertaining film, it’s nowhere near as good as the 1998 miniseries. The lead role of the infamous Rebecca (Becky) Sharpe is played by Reese Witherspoon. At the beginning of the film, Becky is still very young. In her father’s studio, she sells a painting by him to the wealthy Marquis de Steyne (Gabriel Byrne), for a high price; he will show up more often later in her life and interfere with her life in the wrong way. When Becky is an adult and both her parents have passed away, she leaves the boarding school where she grew up with her wealthy best friend Amelia Sedley (Romola Garai). Amelia will move back home with her parents and Becky will stay with her for a while. She meets Amelia’s rich but wimpy brother Joseph (Tony Maudsley) with whom she immediately begins flirting, hoping for a marriage proposal. She also meets Amelia’s fiancé, the shady soldier George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and his friend William Dobbin (Rhys Ifans), who is madly in love with Amelia. Osborne advises Joseph against proposing to Becky, so she will have to find another way to get rich.

After staying with Amelia for a week, Becky moves into the house of Sir Crawley (Bob Hoskins) and his family, to work as a governess against her will, but out of necessity. She is soon noticed by Crawley’s wealthy unmarried sister (Eileen Atkins) who takes her to London as a companion, and Crawley’s grown son Rawdon (James Purefoy). In London, Becky secretly marries Rawdon. From then on she manages to climb higher and higher and flatter herself with all kinds of new people she meets, and she succeeds very well at first. But how far will Becky eventually go in this?

The rather complicated life story of Becky Sharpe is interspersed with the storyline about Amelia Sedley. Amelia marries Osborne (actually against his will) and is able to give her life for him. But she doesn’t interest him at all, and it’s his friend Dobbin who is always there for Amelia no matter what, but Amelia is blinded by her love for Osborne, and does not see Dobbin standing. Reese Witherspoon isn’t bad Becky Sharpe, but she doesn’t come close to portraying Natasha Little, who starred in the BBC series and also stars in this new version as Lady Jane Sheepshanks, Rawdon Crawley’s wife. brother Pitt Crawley (Douglas Hodge). Natasha Little played the mean, villainous side of Becky much more subtly, much more in keeping with the rules of conduct at the time. Reese Witherspoon puts it all just a bit too thick, making it unbelievable that all the characters fall into her flattery time and again. In addition, the Becky as Witherspoon portrays her is very unsympathetic: the viewer will not feel a hint of compassion for her.

The film is directed by Indian director Mia Nair. There are several Indian influences in the film, and at one point there is even a scene where Becky is the star of some sort of exotic dance act on Steyne’s estate, which is quite exaggerated given the time the story is set in. plays. Also, some characters have ties to India, and part of the story takes place there as well. In addition, the art direction of the film also looks very exotic, and the colors and costumes are extraordinarily bright for a costume film set at the beginning of the Victorian period. But while the bright, lavish costumes may not be completely historically accurate, they are a sight to behold. Despite the fact that the film twists and turns a bit here and there, ‘Vanity Fair’ is certainly not unpleasant to watch. The many events run smoothly, everything looks beautifully colorful and there is also the necessary humor in the film. But it clearly takes effort to fit the large number of events from the book into one film, which at 135 minutes makes for a fascinating, if slightly too long film here and there.