Vanity Fair Movie Review 2004

In William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair," Becky Sharp is an unrepentant social climber. But with Witherspoon tackling Becky in director Nair's version, such calculation just wouldn't do. Becky still aspires to climb the slippery social ladder in early 19th century Britain, but here she has a heart. Becky first flirts with the wealthy, foppish brother (Maudsley) of her sweet-but-dim friend Amelia (Garai) but cannot bring him to marriage. She then rolls the dice with dashing gambler/soldier Rawdon Crawley (Purefoy). However, things never quite turn out for greedy Becky. Nair's hard-pressed to cover the novel's 30 years and multiple subplots so the film has a rushed feeling. Witherspoon is plucky but the supporting cast of British stalwarts (Hoskins, Atkins, Broadbent, etc.) gives the endeavor its panache.

Distribution

Universal Studios Home Video, 100 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608-9955, Phone: (818)777-1000, Fax: (818)866-1483, URL: http://www.universalstudios.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 137 minutes.
Originally from United States, British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Period Piece: 19th Century, Romantic Drama, Rags to Riches, Great Britain, Adoption & Orphans, Books to Film: William Makepeace Thackeray

Screenplay

Matthew Faulk, Mark Skeet, Julian Fellowes

Cast

Reese Witherspoon, Eileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne, Romola Garai, Bob Hoskins, Rhys Ifans, Geraldine McEwan, James Purefoy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Douglas Hodge, Natasha Little, Tony Maudsley

Cinematography

Declan Quinn

Director

Mira Nair

Music

Mychael Danna

Other

Drew Kunin, Allyson C. Johnson, Lucinda Thomson, Sam Stokes, Maria Djurkovic

Producer

Janette Day, Donna Gigliotti, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Granada Film Productions, Tempesta Films, Inside Track Films 2 LLP, Focus Features