The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

Effie Gray

Effie Gray | Movie review
4 October 2014
Joe Manners Lewis
Avatar
Joe Manners Lewis
4 October 2014

Movie and show review

Joe Manners Lewis

Effie Gray

★★★★★

Release date

10th October 2014

Links

FacebookWebsite

Dressed in the finest example of Victorian attire, it’s impossible to miss Dakota Fanning’s resemblance to the titular Effie Gray. Her blue eyes and large, rosy cheeks make her a fine model for the nineteenth century muse, so it’s a shame that an engaging period drama can’t be built on looks alone.effie

The film begins with Effie’s marriage to renowned art critic John Ruskin, followed by the journey back from Scotland to the Ruskin family home in London. Aspects of conflict arrive early and in quick succession – starting from the moment poor Effie is wholly ignored in the attempt to consummate her marriage – and continue for the film’s duration. The Ruskin family are far from fond of their new house guest, while John himself manages to take the term uninvested to an entirely new level. Effie’s complete isolation is sudden, and her relationship with her new family only travels further south from there.

Eventually John and Effie travel to Venice, and it’s here that the film hits its first of many emotional roadblocks. Emma Thompson’s script is a masterclass in unaddressed cruelty, but the problem for Effie Gray is that Effie’s fleeting moments of companionship are not only far too brief, but also completely joyless.

Matters aren’t helped much by Fanning, who appears emotionally stunted by her affected upper-class accent – a strange choice for a character from Perth, Scotland – and she remains shockingly neutral throughout. In a lesser role her performance would have been passable, but for now she seems unable to carry the weight of such a key character.

Elsewhere, performances are stronger: Julie Walters and David Suchet provide distressingly inhuman turns as the John’s parents and there’s something inescapably heartwarming about watching Emma Thompson, the scriptwriter for the piece, become a kind mentor to Effie in the role of Mrs Eastlake. Tom Sturridge’s John is by far the cruelest of the on-screen tormentors, and his unaccountable disdain for his young wife seems to speak to the reality of the historical figure, inferring many possible reasons for his resentment.

Art is a backdrop here, and the works of Everett Millais – Effie’s far kinder companion – often fill the screen, but the beauty and emotion conveyed in these pieces is never quite captured. An uneven cast, overbearing score and a script filled with unending misery undermine this intriguing, if utterly joyless, piece of history.

★★★★★

Joe Manners Lewis

Effie Gray is released in the UK on 10th October 2014.

Watch the trailer for Effie Gray here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemseffie grayfilmhistoryjoylessmoviereview

More in Movie reviews

Body Brokers

★★★★★
Umar Ali
Read More

Mouthpiece

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Sentinelle

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

The Father

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Coming 2 America

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

Eye of the Storm

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

The Dissident

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Moxie

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Notturno

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Joe Manners Lewis

Effie Gray

★★★★★

Release date

10th October 2014

Links

FacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Celebrate International Women’s Day with a Bombay Sapphire Cocktails & Create masterclass
    Food & Drinks
  • Kings of Leon – When You See Yourself
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Limbo
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Big vs Small
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Women in film introduce favourite female-directed features for new BFI series on 8th March
    Cinema & Tv
  • Body Brokers
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Mouthpiece
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Sentinelle
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Jesus Egon Christ (Jesus Egon Christus)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Jesus Egon Christ: An interview with directors David and Saša Vajda
    Berlinale
  • Vicious Fun
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Berlinale 2021 winners: The full list
    Berlinale
  • WandaVision
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • Coming 2 America
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Kings of Leon – When You See Yourself
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Teh Internet is Serious Business at the Royal Court | Theatre review
The Maze Runner | Movie review