Vanity Fair

Confusing and ultimately unsatisfying, “Vanity Fair” begins well enough. The story starts with a young girl, Becky Sharp, in the painting studio of her father. She drives a hard bargain with a slumlord who comes to her father’s painting studio to purchase a portrait of her mother. This early setup shows the qualities of the character that the filmmakers wish you to remember - that of a clever, lively and attractive girl of limited means. Becky’s removal to a school for young girls after being orphaned elicits the required sympathy, and we come down firmly on the side of our Becky Sharp.

The heroine, now played by Reese Witherspoon, leaves school in the company of her best and only friend, Amelia Sedley, played by Romola Garai. Becky and Amelia travel to Amelia’s middle-class and untitled home to await the inevitable, suitors and marriage. Amelia loves George, while Becky sets her sights on Amelia’s brother, Joseph. Many Meaningful Looks pass between George and Becky, and then George persuades Joseph Sedley not to court Miss Sharp. Amelia remains oblivious to the subtext. Many plot developments later, George makes a pass at Becky. This we understand, because of the prior Meaningful Looks, but not any of the other story elements.

Becky takes a job as a governess after being rejected by Joseph Sedley, and at this she excels. She makes herself indispensable to her employer, and shows wit and cleverness here at her new home. Becky befriends an older woman of means, and then alienates her. Becky does marry, but who she marries and why remains a puzzle.

This movie disappoints on many levels. First, the climax of the movie makes almost no sense. The script glosses over any truly unflattering parts of Becky’s character. Eventually Becky becomes an outcast for the very qualities that the screenplay has used to win over the audience to her side.

Second, the film lacks exposition or other scenes that would demonstrate many of the motives of the main characters. Their reasons for acting as they do remain a mystery through the end of the movie.

Third, any film should exist as a discrete unit, making sense unless deliberately designed not to. This movie neither makes sense nor shows itself deliberately nonsensical. It proceeds as a normal narrative until close to the end, at which time events do not logically follow their catalysts, or the catalysts remain invisible.

Fourth, Becky’s character grows not at all during the entire 137 minutes. She ends up as she began, but it has taken the filmmakers 120 minutes to show her true nature.

Read the original serialized novel if you want to understand the story and character development of this movie. The subtitle of that book, “A Novel Without a Hero,” explains much of what this film does not.