Sylvia

"Life was too small to contain her."

2003 1h 49m EN

😐

5.8

MID

★5.8TMDB · 124

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Story of the relationship between the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

“Life was too small to contain her.”

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Cast

Gwyneth Paltrow
Sylvia Plath
Daniel Craig
Ted Hughes
Jared Harris
Al Alvarez
Amira Casar
Assia Wevill
Andrew Havill
David Wevill
Sam Troughton
Tom Hadley-Clarke
Lucy Davenport
Doreen
Anthony Strachan
Michael Boddy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Christine Jeffs
Writers: John Brownlow
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 23 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Christine Jeffs, shot by John Toon. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Gabriel Yared. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tariq Anwar shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig and Jared Harris carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Life was too small to contain her.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0325055 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Christine Jeffs directs. John Toon behind the camera. Gabriel Yared scores. Tariq Anwar cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 23 years ago.
2Directed by Christine Jeffs, shot by John Toon. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Gabriel Yared. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Tariq Anwar shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig and Jared Harris carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Life was too small to contain her.".
7IMDB entry: tt0325055 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 12 themes, including "infidelity", "beach", "boat", "writing".

The technical file

Cinematography: John Toon
Original score: Gabriel Yared
Editing: Tariq Anwar
Production design: Maria Djurkovic
Costume design: Sandy Powell
VFX supervisor: Tom Wood
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Status: Released
Budget: $7,000,000
Box office: $10,000,000
Return: 143% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Sylvia (2003)

Also by

Christine Jeffs

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-09-03
★ 6/10
So I can readily imagine a bunch of BBC executives sitting in a bedsit in Camden passing the weed and the Jacob's Creek discussing how best to use a considerable amount of money creating a period drama that would appeal to virtually no-one... Success! What we have here is a superficial glance, almost, at the life and love of acclaimed poet Sylvia Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her husband Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig). Anyone with even the vaguest of interests in these two giants of English-language literature cannot help but be disappointed by this shallow depiction of what made this vibrant and destructive dynamic work - or not! At times, it is almost as if the two stars were offering some sort of apologia for daring to make their money in the Marvel or Bond universe by committing to this poorly written, if very good looking, film to beef out their claim to be legitimate thespians. The sex, frequent not graphic, is almost as sterile as the remarkably passion-free dialogue and the occasional contribution from the likes of Michael Gambon and Andrew Cavill can do little to get this out of first gear. There are plenty of actors around who could have focussed more on the subject(s) of the film better but as ever, box office prevails and we are left with something really underwhelming.

Production companies