Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Culture

VANITY FAIR – Wonderful journey into elegant past

byStaff writers
17 October 2004
Reading Time: 2 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, James Purefoy
Director: Mira Nair
Rated: PG

PERHAPS many people think that the film Vanity Fair has connections with the popular magazine of the same name.

Rather, the magazine takes us back to one of the great classic novels of 19th century English literature by William Thackeray. Thackeray, like Charles Dickens, was an expert purveyor of the three-volume novel, serialised in magazines.

How well can such sizable novels be transferred to the screen? And why should we see such films?

First, a religious note: Thackeray took the title of his novel Vanity Fair from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity …’

His novel offers an illustration of the futility and destructiveness of greed and ambition – the same message as that in the Gospels, ‘what does it profit to gain the whole world and lose one’s soul?’

Second, a social note: Thackeray took his readers back to the first decades of the 19th century, the years of the Napoleonic Wars, culminating in his defeat at Waterloo. These were the years of Regency England, a time of great public elegance, a beginning of a sense of empire, a time of belief that, despite poverty and oppression, anything was possible.

How can film-makers put all of this into a film which lasts two hours and 20 minutes, especially when a version of Vanity Fair of 70 years ago, Becky Sharp, ran for less than 90 minutes?

The task was entrusted to several writers, among whom was Julian Fellowes, the Oscar-winning writer of another vanity fair kind of story, Gosford Park.

The director is the Indian, Mira Nair, probably best known for her exuberant Monsoon Wedding. (The Indian connection is not accidental as Thackeray himself was born in Calcutta.)

Related Stories

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

And the film itself? It is one of those wonderful re-creations of a period that the British do so well.

It is quite lavish in sets and costume design, a delight for the eye.

It also has a particularly strong cast.

American Reese Witherspoon is cast as one of literature’s most lively and memorable characters, Becky Sharp. She comes across as a nicer person than in the novel but is quite convincingly English.

James Purefoy is her gambler husband, Rawdon, and Rhys Ifans (playing against type) is the faithful Captain Dobbin.

Audiences will delight in so many of the supporting characters – Eileen Atkins as Miss Crawley, Bob Hoskins as Pitt Crawley and Jim Broadbent as Mr Osbourne.

And, yes, the film contains the whole book. It may be only a sketch and outline sometimes, but it gets the spirit of the novel.

Not only does the audience feel it has lived through these times, but it understands this portrait of a society in transition, of the strengths and failings of human nature.

It is well worth a visit into this past.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

WIMBLEDON – Love match made on the tennis court

Next Post

Students have no home life

Staff writers

Related Posts

Vatican

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

27 May 2022
Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria
World

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

27 May 2022
Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia
Australia

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

26 May 2022
Next Post

Students have no home life

Year of Eucharist begins

Family focus appreciated

Popular News

  • Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

    Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Christian Brothers’ community mourn the passing of Brother Tony White

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Vatican

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

by Staff writers
27 May 2022
0

By Catholic News Agency THE Vatican is inviting Catholics to join Pope Francis in praying the rosary...

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

27 May 2022
Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

26 May 2022
Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

26 May 2022
Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

26 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping