VANITY FAIR TO OPEN FEST

Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Romola Garai, James Purefoy, Rhys Ifans, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Bob Hoskins, Eileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent

Director: Mira Nair

Producers: Janette Day, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Donna Gigliotti

Screenplay: Matthew Faulk, Julian Fellowes, Mark Skeet, based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray

Mira Nair's Vanity Fair , which is scheduled to open the International Film Festival of India on November 29 in Goa, is based on English writer William Makepeace Thackeray's novel. The film stars big names like Legally Blonde Reese Witherspoon, James Purefoy, Gabriel Byrne and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.

Set in the 19 th century, the story, spanning two decades, revolves around Becky Sharp (Reese Witherspoon), the daughter of a talented but weak artist who leaves his daughter to fend for herself at a young age. An intelligent and ambitious woman, Becky uses her education to acquire a job as a governess for a minor aristocrat, Sir Pitt (Bob Hoskins).

She spends the first part of the movie searching for the right man to elevate her above poverty and her low social standing. When she finds her match in Rawdon Crawley (James Purefoy), she does her best to ingratiate herself into the highest circles of English society. But Rawdon, who is dedicated to her, is also a gambling addict, and his losses at the tables bring financial ruin to himself and Becky. Only the intervention of the Marquis of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne), who has his own motives, saves them from losing everything. Meanwhile, Becky's lone friend, Amelia Sedley (Romola Garai), is unlucky in romance.

She is in love with George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), the adolescent, self-centered son of businessman John Osborne (Jim Broadbent). Her eventual marriage to George is not happy, and she is oblivious to the devotion of her husband's fellow soldier, William Dobbin (Rhys Ifans).

Mira Nair has added her own personal touch to the movie by changing the ending from the original. Unwilling to end the movie in the English countryside, she takes Becky on an adventure to India. The movie though opened to mediocre reviews. Critics felt that the movie did not do full justice to its source material.

Others have accused Mira Nair of making Vanity Fair seem “Jane Austenish.” A style very different from that of the very much Victorian (read Puritanical) Thackeray. Others have said that Vanity Fair is “really an elaborate soap opera where love is either misunderstood or used like a cudgel.”

The real strength of the movie then lies in its production. Technically, you are hard pressed to find flaws. Lensing, by veteran cinematographer and long time Nair collaborator Declan Quinn, is lushly delivered as it captures the broad palette of colours and helps raise the entertainment value of an inappropriate belly dance.

There is a scene where Becky dances a number that is jarringly out of place but, still, looks good. Beatrix Aruna Pasztor tackles Vanity Fair's complex costuming needs and provides a rich look to the upper crust British society, using colours to beautiful effect. Maria Djurkovic handles the time-spanning production design, from British drawing room to Napoleonic battlefield, expertly.

Vanity Fair did not make much of an impact in the US or UK box office, we will have to wait and watch how it is received at IFFI.