my 2 cents

Rather disappointing. Though that wasn't a surprise since there was no buzz about this film. I fault the screenplay and direction. Having Gwyneth and Blythe take on the mother and daughter roles was such a gift, but it was totally wasted.

We know she was unstable. A manic-depressive, or if you prefer bi-polar, type. That alone doesn't capture what contributed to her descent into misery. For god's sakes people (and by people I mean the 2 females in charge. The director and producer)!! The woman had two babies in 3 years and was utterly isolated in a foreign country on top of being a poet who had to stand by and watch her husband succeed as a poet. Can we talk about hormones here? A bit of exhaustion and stress?! On top of her burning desire to express herself through poetry?

There was no exploration of that. In the film, the scene pops to her with newborn in her arms. No pregnancy days, weeks, and months. No labor. no post labor. And baby number two? Do they show her pregnant while caring for a newborn? No. Again, pop to young toddlers.

And, as if that weren't enough to bite my goat, they have long, empty shots of her in a small apartment with no sign or sound of two young children. As far as I'm concerned, they missed the big picture and went for the obvious. Hysterical, jealous woman flips out on poor suffering husband (who can't be blamed for being attractive and successful). Blah, blah blah.

Here's what I did like: the scene where she says she conjured up the other woman by constantly worrying he was going to cheat on her. Dead on. We create our own reality and I loved that passage in the film and her taking ownership for it.

updated: March 21, 2004

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