In the Back Row

with Allison McKinley © 2005

Film: Vanity Fair (Umvd)

Allison's review in ten words or fewer: The best adaptation of Thackeray's classic; Reese Witherspoon is Becky Sharp.

Grade: A-

Genre: Romance/Drama
Rating (MPAA): PG 13
Runtime (minutes): 141
DVD Release Date (US): 1 February 2005
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Gabriel Byrne, and Romola Garai
Special DVD Features:

• Commentary by director Mira Nair
• Deleted scenes
• "The Women of Vanity Fair"
• "Welcome to Vanity Fair"

* * *

I believe Thackeray would be a good friend were he alive today, an ally in the war against stupidity, contrivance, artifice and the social classes. And sexism. He was a radical, a gambler, a visionary, a Bohemian. He lampooned the aristocracy and the middle classes, becoming somewhat of a working man's hero. I sometimes believe that he was reincarnated as WC Fields.

The original cover of Vanity Fair (Thackeray's novel, not the magazine) boldly stated, 'A novel without a hero', as indeed our protagonist is a gal, one Becky Sharp.

Vanity Fair has been adapted to the silver screen no fewer than ten times; more if you count spin offs of the theme of the idle masses against the idle upper classes made popular by Sir Charles Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, the illustrious WC Fields, and many others.

The criticism of this film version is not much different from what you will hear of most adaptations of novels: You cannot include everything in a two-hour film that you will find in a three-hundred page novel. That is a given.

That detraction aside, this is a beautifully filmed, almost joyous spectacle, and certainly a feather in the directorial cap of Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). By the way, our director shares something with our writer Mr. Thackeray: Both were born in India. But wait! There's more!

Mira Nair co-wrote and directed Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996). It is the lushly-filmed version of a young woman, Maya, who... Well, let's look at the IMDb review by L. Denis Brown:

In modern parlance, Maya has the moral standards of a guttersnipe, but in the context of the period in which she lived she merely manipulated the weapons available to her to try to establish what any modern woman would describe as an acceptable independent lifestyle.

Sound familiar? Perhaps there is one difference. Becky Sharp (Witherspoon) professes that only two men shall see her in bed: her husband and her doctor. Well, let us change that to husbands. In Thackeray's novel, she does give in to a strategic fling or two, though in this PG-13 retelling of the story, she remains quite virtuous; and, whilst in the novel she is a bit of a shrew, Mira Nair portrays Becky as more of a natural-born lady who uses her wits to climb the social ladder gracefully.

You must understand that women of this day were pretty much chattel, and if one were possessed of any ambition, she knew she must achieve her goals of betterment through men: marrying wisely and/or manipulating cautiously.

Becky Sharp is the daughter of a painter and a French opera singer (probably the social equivalent of a Las Vegas showgirl today). In an opening scene, the young Becky (played by a promising little actress Angelica Mandy), shows her business acumen by managing to obtain ten guineas for a painting of her mother from the Marquess of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne) for which her father is only asking three.

After gaining an education as a governess, also a rather lowly profession in those days, you realise, Becky takes up a position with the Crawleys. But on the way to that post, she visits with her friend from school Amelia Sedley (played by the gorgeous Romola Garai). Amelia likes Becky (the only one at school who does, apparently), and feels that Becky should marry her brother Joseph. However, Amelia's fiance is against such a marriage, as is the family.

Thus, Becky takes up her job as governess for Sir Pitt Crawley (played with great flair by Bob Hoskins), who is so unkempt that Becky mistakes him for a servant. Becky actually transforms Sir Pitt's house back to a state of grandeur, if somewhat limited, and wins the friendship of his sister Matilde... and then loses it again when she secretly marries Matilde's nephew Rawley Crawley. As he is the second son and entitled to no inheritance, Becky has landed good family affiliations, but no support.

War comes, war passes (you recall the name Napoleon, right?). Becky progresses in society, only to fall back on hard times. How does it all turn out? Oh, quite well, as you can imagine, with lessons to be learnt along the way.

Remember, this is a period piece and the costumes and sets are smashing, yet they do not get in the way of the tale. You will care what happens to Becky. If you are a girl, or a sensitive boy, at times you might cry. Reese and Romola bring to this version of Vanity Fair a delicacy and grace seen in no previous version. Their acting is superb.

If you want to relish every word that Thackeray wrote, of course you will have to read the novel. If you will accept the gist of the story as interpreted by Mira Nair--and it is a very touching story--along with fabulous sets and lovely fashion, rent or buy the DVD and see this film adaptation. You will not be disappointed.