Vanity Fair (2004)

Growing up poor in London, Becky Sharp (Witherspoon) defies her poverty-stricken background and ascends the social ladder alongside her best friend, Amelia.

Director:

Mira Nair

Writers:

Matthew Faulk (screenplay), Mark Skeet (screenplay),

Stars:

Reese Witherspoon, Romola Garai, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gabriel Byrne	...	The Marquess of Steyne
Angelica Mandy	...	Young Becky Sharp
Roger Lloyd-Pack	...	Francis Sharp (as Roger Lloyd Pack)
Ruth Sheen	...	Miss Pinkerton
Kate Fleetwood	...	Miss Pinkerton's Crone
Reese Witherspoon	...	Becky Sharp
Lillete Dubey	...	Ms. Green (as Lillette Dubey)
Romola Garai	...	Amelia Sedley
Tony Maudsley	...	Joseph Sedley
Deborah Findlay	...	Mrs. Mary Sedley
John Franklyn-Robbins	...	Mr. Sedley
Paul Bazely	...	Biju
Rhys Ifans	...	William Dobbin
Jonathan Rhys Meyers	...	George Osborne
Charlie Beall	...	Gambler

Storyline

The British Empire flowers; exotic India colors English imaginations. Becky Sharp, the orphaned daughter of a painter and a singer, leaves a home for girls to be a governess, armed with pluck, a keen wit, good looks, fluent French, and an eye for social advancement. Society tries its best to keep her from climbing. An episodic narrative follows her for 20 years, through marriage, Napoleonic wars, a child, loyalty to a school friend, the vicissitudes of the family whose daughters she instructed, and attention from a bored marquess who collected her father's paintings. Honesty tempers her schemes. No aristocrat she, nor bourgeois, just spirited, intelligent, and irrepressible.

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Plot Keywords:

singer | governess | english | aristocrat | india | 

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Taglines:

In a time of social climbers, Becky Sharp is a mountaineer.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality/partial nudity and a brief violent image

Details

Official Sites:

Focus Features [us] Pandasia Entertainment [tw]

Country:

USA UK India

Language:

English French German

Release Date:

1 September 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vanidad

Filming Locations:

6 Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$23,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£204,693 (UK) (14 January 2005)

Gross:

£204,693 (UK) (14 January 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Tempesta Films, Granada Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

141 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Natasha Little, who plays Lady Jane Sheepshanks, played Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair.

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Goofs

Towards the end of the film, when Becky and Rawdon are eating dinner in their house, Rawdon throws the napkin that is tucked into his collar on the table. In the next shot, the napkin is back in his collar. When he stands to leave, the napkin is back on the table.

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Quotes

Miss Matilda Crawley: Keep your toadying until I get to a fire. You can suck up all you wish once I'm warm.

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Crazy Credits

Before the credits start rolling the word "Alvida" (goodbye) appears in Urdu script. Beneath it is the following dedication: for our beloved Ammy Kulsum Alibhai 1927-2003

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Connections

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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Soundtracks

"The Polonaise"
Music by Hummel
Arranged by Terry Davies

User Reviews

Disappointing, if not disastrous

Believe it or not, I am under the age of 20 and have read this novel purely out of interest and found it to be an amazing piece of work. Thackeray's unique writing style in "Vanity Fair" is captivating. I saw the movie only a week after finishing the book, with the details fresh in my mind, to be immensely displeased. I have read a number of excellent comments that go into detail of the faults of the movie, so I plan to keep this brief for those wanting a shorter critique.

At least half of the characters were misrepresented. I believe the only two relatively-accurate main characters were Jos Sedley and Rawdon Crawley. Becky was completely dismantled into something with scarcely a semblance of what she is portrayed as in the book. The character Dobbin was undefined; George Osborne was snobbish instead of cocky; his rigid father suddenly became sympathetic (way too early and much too far); not to mention troves of other discrepancies. I understand the goal may have been to come up with a more abridged version, but there were changes made that had nothing to do with shortening the screenplay. Besides, there were a number of musical pieces that could have been cut in order to use the time more beneficially by preserving some of the integrity of the film.

Thackeray would have been appalled at this hack job.

Were it not for my love for time period films, and the possibility of enjoying this movie as something very separate from the book, I would not care to see it again. At least the filming was impressive, though that hardly makes up for the rest. The theatrical trailer is the best part of the movie.