But it's a case of too little Thompson, too late. Thompson is especially effective at registering the shock of Effie's big reveal, when she admits that John and she never consummated matters. She plays Lady Eastlake, a woman who helps Effie muster the courage to leave her marriage. Predictably, only in those moments when Thompson shows up does the film come alive. The news that Effie has meanwhile fallen in love with painter Everett Millais ( Tom Sturridge) comes as a surprise, for their interactions have been as flat and lifeless as a gray background wash. Even the few dalliances she has along the way hardly merit the term: They are so circumspect that by the time she decides to leave Ruskin, her virginity is still intact. As Effie Gray, Fanning is a cipher, moving through years of spousal neglect with barely a flicker in her glacial facial expressions. Unlike another recent movie with " Grey" in its title, there's no passion in this piece, kinky or otherwise. Is he a closeted homosexual? Does he abhor sex? Is there incest going on? Who knows? This setup yields a sort of emotional stalemate as the two spend scene after scene ensconced in stuffy rooms in near-silence. Apparently preferring the attentions of his 60-something mother to those of his 20-something wife, Ruskin spurns Effie in the bedroom. Once Ruskin marries Effie and brings her to London to live with his family in their dark, dank mansion, her life becomes one of quiet despair. There's no inherent evil, and certainly no chewing of the scenery - that Just Would Not Do in your proper Victorian household. His father ( David Suchet) is almost equally smarmy and doting, making these two simultaneously the worst and most boring in-laws on the planet. We do find out early on that Ruskin is a rich, coddled mama's boy, in a very creepy sort of way: Mama ( Julie Walters) still gives Johnny his bath. The ups and downs of another couple's marriage would normally intrigue older filmgoers, but in Effie Gray director Richard Laxton barely tries to plumb the reasons behind the failure of this famous union. Unfortunately, Thompson is glimpsed only fleetingly in the dismal film, which centers on the loveless marriage between a naïve young Scotswoman named Effie Gray ( Dakota Fanning) and the leading art critic of the Victorian era, John Ruskin ( Greg Wise, Thompson's real-life husband).ĭid I say "loveless"? No, make that "passionless, devoid of emotion, repressed." And therein lies the problem: This alleged "drama" plods along with the mismatched pair barely speaking to each other.
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