Sylvia Plath Movie Review
Year: 2003
Director: Christine Jeffs
Writer: John Brownlow
Main Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig
Brief description on film
This film is about the famous American poet known as Sylvia Plath (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) who was born in 1932 and died in 1963 at the age of 30. This movie tells us the story about her real-life love story with poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig), their marriage and how their marriage had then fell apart. We got to see how this affects Plath and how these certain events inspired her to write her poems.
My Review.
I watched this film in a couple of English classes before Christmas as an introduction to Sylvia Plath before we began studying some of her poems. I personally found it a heart-breaking portrayal that dramatically demonstrates her life. I got very drawn in to the emotions that Plath had felt as she had experienced both these positive and negative aspects of her adult life. I also found the film interesting on how her marriage had fell apart and soul crushing how it had affected her. This film can show the realistic trauma of separations and how it can negatively affect the couple. This can especially be the case in this film with Sylvia having to mother two children (scenarios like these were common in the sixties). This film also displays how the pain of separating from a significant other (particularly if married) can affect someone with depression (which Plath has been known to have).
Would I recommend it?
For educational purposes definitely.
When I studied Plath’s poetry, the film helped so much. I understood her poems a lot more and her reasons for writing them. It would definitely help someone if they were studying Sylvia Plath for Leaving Cert, Junior Cert or any other form of exams. Even if you have the spare time I would recommend it if you want to kill an hour or two. It is an interesting true story. Paltrow and Craig both play the part of Plath and Hughes exceptionally in this film so I would recommend watching the film.
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