Vanity fair, la foire aux vanités

Some comments did warn me, but the cast led by my favorite actress Reese Witherspoon looked promising and, above all, from the first shots, the set design seemed great. I had a sense of an authentic touch with the distant past. However, with each passing minute, my disappointment grew. The film could have been made as a social drama about an outsider girl who wanted to escape the unattractive prospects of her social class at all costs. Her background and occupation as a governess in an aristocratic family would allow her to become an observer from below with the ability to capture life across all social classes - especially during the exceptional and uncertain period of the Napoleonic Wars when human characters were shaped and many lives were turned upside down. Unfortunately, the film gets lost in the penny-dreadful, which turns promising solutions into banalities and romantic clichés. The director doesn't commit outright atrocities, but she fails to extract a strong and impressive story from this promising material. Comparing it to Bondarchuk's monumental War and Peace, considering the exceptional nature of the source material, may not be fair, but to some extent, it explains my doubts and low rating. Overall impression: 40%. 1 star is for the set design, and the second is for the visual sophistication. (03/02/2016)

Up until now, I've only associated Thackeray in cinema with Barry Lyndon, who is too Kubrick to be Thackeray. But thankfully "Vanity Fair" is a novel that is adapted very often, and this latest version so far is very charming and inspiring. While there was a brilliant 1930s short in the beginning (1911), one sexy modern version with Myrna Loy, and another traditional one in Technicolor with Miriam Hopkins, this one with the charming Reese Witherspoon puts the whole story in an Indian context and tells of all the nice and unpleasant things that befell poor Becky Sharp. Although Becky would never call herself poor, would she? These lavish novels in Empire splendor can really only gain when directed by someone as cosmopolitan as Mira Nair. Yes, the Mira Nair whose Monsoon Wedding meant so much to the revival of interest in Indian film and Indian culture in the West. Basically, I have to recommend it. And if you're still not sure, take your time. I waited a decade for my Vanity Fair encounter and it was worth it. (10/05/2017)

An inconsistent mix of Dangerous Beauty (the breakdown of the main character) and The Age of Innocence (similar characterization of the period), which, however, does not take the best ingredients from either and thus remains somewhere in the middle between a fully-fledged serious drama and a delightful romance. The actors, except for a few moments, are very convincing, with Gabriel Byrne taking the lead, but Reese Witherspoon, who until then had been seen by audiences only as a little pink yapper from Legally Blonde, showed that she can also handle a more serious role without hesitation. Technically, it is flawless, with outstanding costumes, London scenery, and vibrant camerawork. The atmosphere of the Victorian era is masterfully and elegantly recreated, but unfortunately, the content is sometimes quite disjointed and dull. (11/09/2006)

Je suis très sceptique face aux adaptations filmiques d’œuvres littéraires, surtout quand elles viennent des USA. Je suis d’avis que les perles littéraires ne peuvent être réellement bien adaptées que par des cinéastes originaires du pays où celles-ci ont été créées. Je n’ai malheureusement lu aucun livre de W. M. Thackeray et je me souviens juste d'avoir appris au lycée qu’il était un représentant du Réalisme en Angleterre et qu’il s’attaquait aux thèmes du fayotage, du carriérisme, de l’hypocrisie, du snobisme et de l’égoïsme. Vanity fair, la foire aux vanités est son œuvre la plus célèbre et, à en juger par le film, il semble y avoir inclus tous ses thèmes. Si je dois évaluer le film sans connaître le livre, je dirais que ça m’a beaucoup plu, que les dialogues sont soignés, que plusieurs vérités intemporelles y sont représentées et que la distribution est opulente. Pour moi, Reese Whiterspoon ne se cantonne plus à son personnage dans La Revanche d'une blonde, à la pieuse Annette de Sexe Intentions ni au fantôme de la doctoresse de Et si c’était vrai… ; elle est aussi Rebecca Sharp, une femme intelligente, perspicace et érudite qui n'a pas le sang bleu, un facteur pourtant important dans la société anglaise du dix-neuvième siècle. Thackeray a certainement voulu mettre en avant la superficialité des classes sociales supérieures et je ne m’étonne pas qu’il se trouve une héroïne forte et admirable dans la littérature anglaise. J’ai beaucoup aimé Romola Garai également et ce n’est pas pour rien que Woody Allen l’a choisie pour Scoop, sachant qu’il se trompe rarement dans ses castings. Quant à Rhys Ifans et Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, ils se dépassent. De tels classiques portés au cinéma, j’en redemande ! (16/09/2008)

The trend of converting literary classics into film form is relatively traditional, gaining importance again in recent years, but "Jarmark marnosti" does not completely approach what the film "Pýcha a předsudek" achieved a year later. The period portrayal is good, but the story is not one that completely captivates a person. I do not like Reese and she did not convince me here that she would be any kind of exceptional actress. I am planning to watch "Barry Lyndon" for the second time in the foreseeable future, also an adaptation of Thackeray, and I know that I will have better feelings about it even though it is a film an hour longer. (07/04/2014)