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Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
TALK ABOUT MOVIES
October 2005
VANITY FAIR
Directed by Mira Nair. Starring Reese Witherspoon, James Purefoy. 2004, Color, 141 minutes, UK/USA, English/French/German. Available at Blockbuster Video.
Ernie: Becky is flawed as a lover. In the opening scene, she doesn't want her father to sell the painting of her mother, who has died. But she doesn't say, "It's not for sale." She says, "Ten guineas," instead of the usual four. When asked, "Why ten," she replies, "Because that would be too much to refuse." She has a mercenary streak that colors all her relationships.
Matthew: And that decision comes back to haunt her. When the Marquess discovers her identity, it's as if he knows she can be bought. But she's not simply a social whore. To some extent, she's a victim of circumstances. As an orphan from a poor family, marriage is the only way she's ever going to get anywhere. She tries to marry a man who is in love with her, but she is thwarted because she is not of the proper class. So she invades the world of class, and at first, she seems to avoid its pitfalls. She doesn't complain when she is wronged, and she is willing to work. She makes what beauty she can -- she sings; she paints woodland scenes on the interior of her plain rooms. And at first, it looks as though she is seeking to advance socially purely for her husband's sake. Still, she doesn't pay attention when her child takes his first steps, and she's cynical enough to make a crack like, "I'd be kind for 5,000 a year."
Ernie: Amelia is her opposite -- all love and devotion, but no cunning, no wiliness. She couldn't see that her husband was a lout and that sending her son to his paternal grandfather would insure that he turned out to be a lout as well. She's static for 20 years, until Becky forces her to see her foolishness.
Matthew: Maybe it's that painful kindness that earns Becky her reward.