![]() ![]() Scenes are stretched taut with unspoken words, harsh slights and backhanded compliments. The subtleties that Thompson ignores in her performance are more strikingly nuanced in the film’s depiction of Effie Gray’s marital turmoil. Yet Thompson often overplays her warm demeanor, acting more like Mary Poppins, than a worldly guide to domesticity and its intricacies. As Lady Eastlake, Thompson serves as a cheery friend and confidant to the unhappy Effie. Even so, Dakota Fanning as Gray embodies a quiet, if conscientious, courage against this bleak backdrop.Įmma Thompson, whose screenplay was challenged with accusations of plagiarism, is a bright, if overly shiny, spot in this dreary land. It is a wonder that her spirit isn’t completely snuffed out by it. Aesthetically, the ethereal Effie hangs about this world, designed by James Merifield, like a piece of victim art. No doubt this maquillage is intended to provoke sympathy for poor Effie Gray. Pale and thin with wavy tresses, Dakota Fanning sometimes looks like a porcelain doll, in more dire instances, a paper one. This tendency to objectify extends to the film’s characterization of Effie as well. To Ruskin, Effie is an object to be admired rather than a woman to be fully embraced. When Ruskin reaches out to tuck a reddish lock behind Effie’s ear, it reads first as fondness, later as a correctional adjustment to Effie’s “angelic” look. ![]() Tender moments between Ruskin and Effie are rare, yet pointed, souring quickly or inciting disdain at second glance. ![]() This trek is long and arduous, at times dragging and drifting like the swoop of a long, full skirt, yet it is also spiked with tension. Their relationship, like a forgotten and neglected timepiece, unwinds gradually to haunting effect, as Effie attempts to win her husband’s heart, find a place within her in-laws’ oppressive household and ultimately escape from her loveless marriage. When Effie comes of age at 19, the much older and richer Ruskin marries his poor and pure “muse” with haste, yet puts off consummating their union. Ruskin and Effie’s courtship begins as a fairytale. The film, starring Dakota Fanning as its eponymous heroine, focuses on the strained love triangle between famed art critic John Ruskin (Greg Wise), his virginal wife Euphemia “Effie” Gray and Ruskin’s protégé, painter John Everett Millais (Tom Sturridge). Cinched to suffocate its wearer, the dress looks beautiful, but it is also deeply uncomfortable to try on. Wrapped in England’s gossamer fogs and framed by stiff Victorian facades, period-drama and biopic, “Effie Gray,” fits like a too tight ball gown. Times film critic Kenneth Turan’s class “Writing the Film Review”at USC. Foggy with a Chance of Sunshine: A Review of Effie Gray ![]()
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