Tagline: All’s Fair in Love & War.
One of America’s most popular stars, Reese Witherspoon, unites with one of the world’s most acclaimed directors, Mira Nair, to bring to the screen one of the greatest female characters ever created, Rebecca (Becky) Sharp. The new film version of the classic novel by William Makepeace Thackeray introduces a new audience to the beautiful, funny, passionate, and calculating Becky.
The daughter of a starving English artist and a French chorus girl, Becky is orphaned at a young age. Even as a child, she yearns for a more glamorous life than her birthright promises. As she leaves Miss Pinkerton’s Academy at Chiswick, Becky resolves to conquer English society by any means possible. She deploys all of her wit and sexuality as she makes her way up into high society during the first quarter of 19th century.
Becky’s ascension to the heights of society commences when she gains employment as governess to the daughters of eccentric Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskins). Becky wins over the children, and the Crawley family’s rich spinster aunt Matilda (Eileen Atkins) as well. The rural Hampshire household comes to find her indispensable, and Matilda comes to confide in the bright young woman. But Becky knows that she cannot be a true part of English society until she moves to the city. When Matilda invites her to come live in London, Becky eagerly accepts.
There, Becky is reunited with her best friend Amelia Sedley (Romola Garai), who – having grown up comfortably – does not share Becky’s more brazen ambitions. Hewing close to the family she already knows so well, Becky secretly marries dashing heir Rawdon Crawley (James Purefoy) – but when Matilda discovers their union, she casts the newlyweds out. When Napoleon invades Europe, Rawdon bravely reports to the front lines. Pregnant Becky stands by distraught newlywed Amelia, whose own husband George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is also called to fight.
When George does not survive the Battle of Waterloo, Becky’s friendship with Amelia is strained beyond repair. Becky is reunited with Rawdon and gives birth to a boy, but, post-war, money and comforts are sparse for the trio. More intent than ever on gaining acceptance into London society and living well, Becky finds a patron in the powerful Marquess of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne). Steyne’s whims enable Becky to realize her dreams, but the ultimate cost may be too high for her.
Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American historical drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel of the same name. The novel has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations, and Nair’s version made notable changes in the development of main character Becky Sharp. The film was nominated for “Golden Lion” Award in 2004 Venice Film Festival.
The film adaptation of Vanity Fair had been in development for over 10 years, with writers Matthew Faulk and Mark Skeet working on the screenplay. Mira Nair became attached to the project in 2002 and scrapped most of the initial screenplay. She brought Julian Fellowes in to rewrite the film; he agreed with her that the character of Becky Sharp should be made more sympathetic than in the novel.
The ending was also changed, with Becky journeying to India with Joseph Sedley. The film had a budget of $23 million and originally was supposed to be in pre-production for 18 weeks. However, Reese Witherspoon became pregnant so it was necessary to speed up both pre-production and filming. Vanity Fair was shot in Bath, Kent, the Chatham Dockyard, and at Stanway House in Gloucester.
Mira Nair, the director of the film, searched for good Indian musicians to compose a song for the album, and finally selected the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy at the last minute. She showed them a rough footage of the situation she wanted them to compose for, which was the last few sequences of the film.
The trio used tabla and several other Indian musical instruments for the song, without any synth, to give it an ethnic feel. The song was sung by Shankar, accompanied by Richa Sharma and Jerry McCulley of Celtic Instruments described the song as “a sprightly duet”, while SoundtrackNet said the “aforementioned upbeat vocal number Gori Re” is enjoyable in its own way for one who enjoys Indian musical styles.
Vanity Fair (2004)
Directed by: Mira Nair
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Jim Broadbent, Eileen Atkins, James Purefoy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kate Fleetwood, Gabriel Byrne, Angelica Mandy, Romola Garai
Screenplay by: Matthew Faulk, Mark Skeet, Julian Fellowes
Production Design by: Maria Djurkovic
Cinematography by: Declan Quinn
Film Editing by: Allyson C. Johnson
Costume Design by: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
Set Decoration by: Kalpa Dave, Tatiana Macdonald
Art Direction by: Nick Palmer, Sam Stokes, Lucinda Thomson
Music by: Mychael Danna
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sensuality / partial nudity and a violent image.
Distributed by: Focus Features
Release Date: September 1, 2004
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