Mira captures the philosophy of the novel and recalls the yogic question Thackeray posed, “Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire or, having it, is satisfied?”
(Images: BBC and movie website)
If you like movies about the past, about 19th century England with its lords and ladies in their colourful costumes and elaborate hairstyles; about lavish settings appealing to your senses and perhaps your sensibilities, this is the movie for you. Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero is a retrospective story by William Makepeace Thackeray which was serialized in 1847-48 and the movie is directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). If you like classical times and the English with their customs and subtle nuances and humour, as also the British Empire you may like this fare.
The all-British cast with the exception of American Reese Witherspoon - the female lead - (Legally Blonde II), and twice nominated for Golden Globe Awards includes 67 speaking roles. Vanity Fair is a nostalgic narrative of those days of yore when heavy dresses and armour reigned. It was the time of the Regency, Napoleon had captured Vienna and Russia, England and America had their war, and slavery was being eradicated from the British Empire.
It is a story of Rebecca (Becky) Sharp, daughter of an impoverished English artist and a French chorus girl. Orphaned when very young, Becky yearns for a more glamorous life and uses her wit and street smarts, guile and sexuality to go up the ladder of high society. Like so many British stories, this one too has its share of pomp and nobility. Sir Pitt Crawley, the family paterfamilias is played by Bob Hoskins who was nominated for an Academy Award. Gabriel Bryne, an accomplished stage and movie actor, is The Marquess of Steyne and has amorous designs on Becky.
Reese has lived up to your Becky role as the smart, no-holds barred social climber and British actress Romola Garai turns in a sensitive performance starting with Miss Pinkerton’s Academy in Chiswick and later as a conflicted wife. Playing Becky’s close friend, Amelia Sedley, comfortable in her station, (Romola) portrays unmistakable differences in their upbringing, attitudes and ambitions in life. In 2003, Daily Variety cited Romola among 10 Actors to Watch. Mira Nair says, she picked Reese Witherspoon for the Becky Sharp character for her “wit, intelligence, guile and that enticing quality called Appeal, which makes an actor a movie star.”
Becky wins over Matilda Crawley, the family’s rich spinster aunt (played by Dame Eileen Atkins in many Shakespearean roles) and soon moves to London, where she secretly marries Matilda’s handsome heir Rawdon Crawley (played by Britisher James Purefoy). But, here’s the twist: Matilda doesn’t approve of the marriage which is out of class and Becky and Rawdon have to fend for themselves.
Rawdon, who, in real life, traces his family’s history to 1066 in Buckinghamshire, attempts to tame the adventurous spirit in Becky. To a query if he was comfortable wearing those heavy costumes, James Purefoy said, “It is sometimes cumbersome, you put on that waistcoat and you walk differently with all that weight, your shoulders go back, your neck extends and you develop a swagger.” This member of the Royal Shakespeare Company adds, “the idea is to make acting almost seem casual.”
When Napoleon invades Europe, Rawdon volunteers to serve and pregnant Becky is distraught. Amelia’s own husband George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys Meyers – most recently, the soccer coach opposite Parminder Nagra in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend it Like Beckham) also enlists for England. While Osborne does not survive the Battle of Waterloo, Rawdon returns to be with Becky and their son. But the irrepressible Becky is lacking in finance and comforts. Always keen on becoming part of London’s upper echelons, Becky finds a patron in the powerful Marquess of Steyne. Director Mira Nair has taken liberties with Thackeray’s text and said, “I was keen not to make any sets, whether it was a stately mansion or a stable, but to keep the narrative really fluid. Even the hairstyles and jewelry were a blend of the traditional and the modern” – and this creative effort reflects her passion for Thackeray, Empire and the colonial connection with India. Great Pulteney Street in Bath (England) and Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, founded in 1459, were two prominent outdoor scenes.
Another person who shares a passion for Thackeray is screenwriter Julian Fellowes who won an Academy Award for Best Original screenplay for Gosford Park. Fellowes’s versatility speaks volumes if you consider that he also wrote the screenplay for a P.G. Wodehouse book – Piccadilly Jim – which was made into a movie. Fellowes says, “Mira was absolutely brilliant in casting Reese – in having just one American with a flawless English accent rather than many Americans with British accents.”
But an Egyptian dance sequence by Becky and her friends which Mira Nair, said, 'Reese learnt to do in 12 -1/2 minutes', lacked rhythm and beat, and seemed contrived. Perhaps it lacked the boisterousness of a Bhangra because we were dealing with a subdued Victorian era. And, Mira seemed to have merely touched upon the Battle of Waterloo where Amelia lost her husband George Osborne. The third person in that love triangle is William Dobbin played by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans who costarred opposite Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts as Spike in Roger Michell’s comedy Notting Hill.
With nothing in their favour, and knowing he is fighting a losing battle - emotionally speaking - Rawdon says to Becky, “I know what we have to win, I’m just afraid of what we might lose. You’re taking favours from a tiger, Becky.” He was referring to the rich Marquess of Steyne. Becky’s reply: “I am not afraid.”
The dialogues are crisp and the man behind the camera, Declan Quinn has captured another memorable monument in celluloid with the décor, the brocades and ornate splendour of those times. While satisfying her “carnivalesque sensibilities” as she puts it, Mira captures the philosophy of the novel and recalls the yogic question Thackeray posed, “Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire or, having it, is satisfied?”
[A Focus Features presentation of a Tempesta Films/Granada Film Production, Vanity Fair is executive-produced by Jonathan Lynn. The executive producers are Howard Cohen and Pippa Cross. The producers are Janette Day, Donna Gigliotti, and Lydia Dean Pilcher. Based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, the screenplay is by Matthew Faulk & Mark Skeet and Julian Fellowes. The director is Mira Nair. Vanity Fair has a running time of 140 minutes.]
[Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York based freelance writer. He covers trend stories on art, travel and lifestyles and reviews books, films and plays for media based in New York, California, Toronto, India and Australia.]
