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:

On September 1st, a heroine will rise.

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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

Most of the costumes were purposefully made a little smaller than necessary, to slightly alter the overall look of them.

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Goofs

While dancing, Becky wears dark black makeup on her eyes, streaked back almost to her temple. When the whole group reaches and looks up, the dark make-up is gone.

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Quotes

Becky Sharp: [as Rawdon is about to leave for battle] You won't do anything brave, will you?

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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

Version of Becky Sharp (1935)

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Soundtracks

"Over the Mountains/The Great Adventurer"
Arranged by David McGuiness
Produced by Mychael Danna
Performed by Custer LaRue
Custer LaRue appears courtesy of The Dorian Group, Ltd.

User Reviews

Vanity Fair Tries In Vain

Vanity Fair is a beautiful mess. It combines the beauty of elegant costumes, sets and people with the disaster that is Mira Nair's adaptation of William Makepeace Thackery's novel. Not only is the adaptation bad but also so is what Nair has done with it. If you read the book, the movie will break your heart. It has completely ripped to shreds the pages of the classic story.

If you haven't read the book and intend to waste your money on the film, I would recommend that first you read a couple of plot summaries of the novel. Otherwise, you may be very lost through no fault of your own but because there is no defining plot in the film. There are no central conflicts presented and it's not until about two thirds of the way through that you have at least an idea of what is trying to be done here. Even then, it is unclear. Reese Witherspoon plays Becky Sharp, a social climber. Vanity Fair is supposed to be her story but instead, it is crowded by a confusing and unnecessary cast of supporting characters. I suppose Vanity Fair is a story about love but also about how the social class system can create a barrier between people. If this was the intended idea the supporting cast would be needed but Vanity Fair is supposed to be about Becky Sharp and the movie is far too much of an ensemble piece for that to be the case.

Mira Nair's direction is too present. She throws in too much of herself with the scenes about India and actually in India. Where the hell is the point? There just seem to be times when Nair thought it was okay to throw in another shot of an elephant's ass or belly dancers or India food.

Speaking of unwanted, Reese's second child was not credited in the closing credits but is in every scene Reese is. Witherspoon and the crew seemed to think they could hide the fact that she was pregnant by putting her in big clothes but that didn't work. She still looks pregnant and it ruins the effect the clothes should have had. It also puts the movie out of sequence. In one scene Reese is very large and in the next you can only see her belly if you look for it.

Vanity Fair could have been brilliant. The material is there, Reese bring to the table the range that we have come to expect from her and a performance that could have taken her places if it had been used better. But the fact remains that there are too many moments where ends just don't meet and the audience is confused to the point where the film can't rely on its pretty scenery to distract from its larger flaws. *1/2 out of *****