A Vain Attempt
Reese did indeed have a cockatoo
Director: Mira Nair; Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gabriel Byrne, Rhys Ifans, Romola Garai
For the most part, Vanity Fair is perfectly acceptable as drama; it's got a host of interesting, three-dimensional characters played by a uniformly strong cast, involving plot-lines, and a smattering of witty one-liners and amusing insights. The major problem is that it doesn't convince as the self-conscious satire that it's intended to be, mainly due to fundamentally flawed characterisation of the heroine.
What we have here is an unfortunately idealised Becky Sharp; she seems to lack that sense of emptiness and self-disgust that drives pathological ambition. Instead we see someone quietly determined, resourceful and eager to improve herself, but who nevertheless accepts her current situation with grace and dignity.
For example, in response to her husband's frustration at their living circumstances, she deeply unconvincingly reassures him without bitterness that their positions as governess and professional gambler are not exactly conducive to obtaining financial success and that patience is in order.
Even when verbally abused in public she maintains her poise in a way that only a secure person could (when a jealous self-righteous aristocrat picks away forcefully at the sensitive subject of her heritage, hoping that “there must be something disreputable in your past”, Becky replies: “My father was an artist.” “A starving one I hope?” “Absolutely ravenous,” comes the typically self-deprecating reply.
It's precisely this level of selfawareness that makes her evaluation as “less of a social climber” and “more a mountaineer” seem unfair.
The intended message of the film (as professed in interviews by the makers) – that too much ambition can be destructive and that achievement has an ideal middle ground (a sort of hackneyed quasi-Buddhist philosophy) – is unfortunately not the one that has ended up on the screen, thanks to the protagonist's apparent balance and self-possession; she simply doesn't seem to suffer from the faults that the filmmakers are preaching against.
In fact, her final descent doesn't seem like an inevitable and justified come-uppance, falling some way short of the tragic power the makers were aiming for.
24th Feb 2005