Movie Review: VANITY FAIR

William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair must be better than this movie. I have not yet had the pleasure of reading this literary classic, but I have to believe it more fully developed than this cinematic rendering.

Reese Witherspoon is winning in her portrayal of Becky Sharp, a young woman who overcomes tragedy and poverty to make a name for her self in Victorian England.

The first half of the film is wonderful--and I was entranced by the depiction of the times and the characters. Becky is first introduced to us as a precocious youngter (played by Angelica Mandy) haggling with a customer determined to buy her father's masterpiece, a portrait of Becky's mother, and the last visible image Becky has of her late mum. She manages to more than double the asking price, and in the process proves her pluck and pragmatism.

Becky is soon sent to some kind of finishing school, but we never see any of these years, only her obvious contempt for the place upon her graduation. She accepts a job as governess to a modest family full of interesting characters, but alas, her stay there is barely fifteen minutes.

Director Mira Nair clearly had trouble condensing this 912-page book to 141 minutes. The pace of the film is too brisk, and there is scant opportunity to learn why nearly everyone in polite society knows who she is, or cares. This says nothing of her marriage, which appears to be a very sweet and meaningful time for her, but is unsatisfyingly abrupt in its end.

Thrust at last to the end of her story, we find ourselves left with a character who has developed far differently than we expected--and in jarring ways that are bereft of the rich details we needed. Though I have high hopes for the book, Vanity Fair--the movie--failed to completely satisfy. Grade: B-