To say the least, I was not impressed. Others have commented already on the distracting musical score, lack of sufficient information for non-Plath fans (i.e., the person sitting next to the Plath-fan!), uninteresting and quite common marriage problems, etc., etc.
Despite Paltrow's interesting portrayal of Plath and cinematographic quality, the film did not explore the complexities of Plath by any means to explain the tagline of "Life was too small to contain her." Even a Plath-fan can't get that impression from the film. Aside from which, the title change from "Ted and Sylvia" to just "Sylvia" was not justified by the screenplay. The impact of not being permitted to use more of Plath's poetry throughout the film is significant.
It is completely reasonable for non-Plath fans to give a low score to the film, but thoroughly disappointing to be a Plath-fan and have to give it a low score of 5.0/10.0.
Re: Oscars - who cares? I would guess that if Sissy Spacik got nominated for "In the Bedroom", then Gwyneth is a shoe-in for this year.
Despite Paltrow's interesting portrayal of Plath and cinematographic quality, the film did not explore the complexities of Plath by any means to explain the tagline of "Life was too small to contain her." Even a Plath-fan can't get that impression from the film. Aside from which, the title change from "Ted and Sylvia" to just "Sylvia" was not justified by the screenplay. The impact of not being permitted to use more of Plath's poetry throughout the film is significant.
It is completely reasonable for non-Plath fans to give a low score to the film, but thoroughly disappointing to be a Plath-fan and have to give it a low score of 5.0/10.0.
Re: Oscars - who cares? I would guess that if Sissy Spacik got nominated for "In the Bedroom", then Gwyneth is a shoe-in for this year.