Hey, is that picture of Gwyneth Paltrow on the main page weirding anyone else out, or is it just me?
I'm about to start rooting for the gas oven.
pam
Yup, she has the title role in the new Sylvia Plath movie. Since Gwyneth has made all the talk shows lately, I infer you DO get out a lot, and are not often to be found staring vacantly at the tube.
Hadn't seen it until you mentioned it. I must get out a lot too, as I had no idea they were making a film about her. I think she'll make a good Sylvia but not so sure about the guy playing Ted. I suppose he will be the villain of the piece.
Chesil
I think that the TV was last on (not counting video watching) for the Academy Awards. Of course, I read during most of it!
pam
There is an article about this movie in this week's Newsweek. Apparently there is quite a controversey by the Plath-Hughes family. I think the daughter, Freida, was quoted saying "Why do you want to see my mother stick her head in an oven?" The movie has been criticised for romaniticizing suicide....but, I guess I'm guilty for that. I still am dying to see it. Has there ever been a movie made out of "The Bell Jar"?
The movie has been criticised for romaniticizing suicide
Shakespeare did it, why not others?
pam
Wanna talk about "romanticizing suicide"?
Then you gotta read the article in the current NEW YORKER MAGAZINE about the Golden Gate Bridge.
What "main page" are you guys talking about?
[www.emule.com] On my screen, her eyes are peering over the edge, kind of Kilroy-like.
The Los Angeles Times review was not too bad- thought more of the job Paltrow did then of the movie as a whole.
I think I'll go see Pirates of the Caribbean again instead.
pam
While I was away (did you miss me?) the Daily Telegraph had an article headed 'Sylvia Plath film panned by critics as 'misery-fest' which began 'A film of the life of the American poet Sylvia Plath - and her marriage to Ted Hughes - was decreed in her homeland yesterday as a 'two-hour misery-fest' . The article didn't give the source of the quote but mentioned various other bad reviews and says the only 'kind' review 'came from the New Yorker, which rejected nearly all Plath's work, contributing to the deep depression which led to her suicide'. It went on to say ,at the end of a longish artice, that the death of Gywneth Paltrow's father two days before filming began left her feeling lost, unsure whether to quit the part, which, I suppose, may have contributed to it being even gloomier than it otherwise might have. Think I'll give the film a miss - but considering that I generally agree with Humbert Wolfe about theBritish Journalist, perhaps I shouldn't:
"You cannot hope to bribe or twist
(thank God!) the British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there's no occasion to."
Well, I'm a sucker for romanticized-depression-suicide-poetry-obsession. I want badly to see it, although I sort of think of Gwyneth Paltrow as a tall long-legged blond rather thank a dark and intense disturbed poet. Is it out in theatres already? Forgive me for being out of touch with Hollywood, but if anyone knows....please tell me.
The Internet Movie Database is always a good site for movie info:
[www.imdb.com] />
I think it is a UK flick, and the release date shows 10/17/03 in some places and 10/24 in others.
Does that mean the movie will not be shown in the US? I know most Americans are watching the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but not all of us.
Nah, the Brits like USA money just fine. Some folks even get knighthoods for bringing great gobs of it back with them.
The movie came out on October 17th in New York and Los Angelos. According to Rudy, only two theatres in NY were playing it. The full release date on the film is October 24th.
I've heard that none of Sylvia's poetry is used during the film because her daughter, Frieda Hughes, is totally against the film and she holds the copyrights to all of her mother's works. Freida even went as far as writing a poem about how disrespectful it was for Hollywood to create a movie about her mother's suicide.
Personally, and many would call this heartless but, I feel that she should have taken a different approach and got as much money out of the film as she possibly could. After all, her mom did commit suicide when she was only 3 years old, leaving her with a reputation a motherless childhood.
Here is one related link:
"Frieda Hughes attacks BBC for film on Plath"
[books.guardian.co.uk]
An interview with the director.
[www.poets.org] />
[www.poets.org]
Oh...and yesterday was Sylvia's birthday. Does anyone know how old she would have been?
"Oh...and yesterday was Sylvia's birthday. Does anyone know how old she would have been?"
She was born in 1932. So -- if you can believe everything you read in Excel -- she would have just turned 71.
Wow!!! My grandma is almost 65, so it is hard for me to imagine Sylvia that old. I guess she will always be a young troubled girl for all the world who comes to learn of her.
I bet it's not so hard for your grandma to imagine!
Hear, hear, Marian!!
Not playing in any theatres near me, so....has anyone seen it?
Heck, the last movie I saw was Pirates of the Caribbean!
Sylvia did seem to vanish pretty quickly.
pam
OK, I finally saw it (with my grandma) who says the only poet she knows of is "Talia". I just love her! I thought the movie, as a movie was good, interesting, but I was disappointed. Pehaps I was expecting too much, and I had to explain some thing to my grandma, who never had heard of Plath. I think some of it should have been laid out a little more clearly for the average viewer. Perhaps that is why it was not shown in the US....to much for our average citizen, I suppose, at least if your counting on making money out of it. I think Gwynth Paltrow looked like her, too, except that long blonde hair and bangs half-way through made her look like a hippie.
Anyone else seen it?