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Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Powerful

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

and definitely lacking in the shoot-em-up, bawdy gratuitous sex scenes and Hollywood hype. This is not a film for the usual popcorn viewing brigade. Firstly, it is not (to it's enormous credit) a Hollywood produced film or even a big business film. It is privately funded and produced. Now, viewers will find this very hard to believe, for the excellence of scenery, costumes,attention to detail and cast role would certainly infer my earlier statements to be incorrect. Additionally, superb cinematography and scene placement produce sumptuous delights for the eyes. Furthermore, Emma Thompson's script is a lesson on period dialogue given clarity and flow to a modern generation. This is a film that demands your attention but will not pander to it. If you are not willing to give your mind and heart to it, don't blame the film. It's subtleties and nuances are exquisitely and delicately portrayed and I could find no area of the acting which in any way displeased me.On the contrary. Now I will grant that I'm an old guy and that I can remember in my childhood echoes of Edwardian-like darkened rooms and repressively collaborative furnishings, so there were echoes in the film I recognised that many a viewer today would not find relevant (hence, perhaps, some of the comments on this board). But...and it's a pretty big BUT....to describe this film as anything less than superb, a masterpiece, a true pageant of excellence in every department...and done without major company backing...would be a gross misrepresentation of film making.So, take that Hollywood!! Bam! Klash! Kaboom! So take that all you bigmoney film orgs! Kaboom. Good, indeed superb, films can be made without enormous expenditure and excessive hype. This is one of them.(but don't watch it if you only want to defend Ruskin or suppress the indomitable spirit of womanhood).

In some of the worst writing and directing I've ever seen, an hour and a half is spent telling a five minute story! Make no mistake, there is no love triangle exhibited here, no love making at all and no affair. The summary of the story given is a lie. I am big Dakota Fanning fan, which is why I chose this movie but I couldn't be more disappointed. It was very difficult not to stop watching mid way through. Emma Thompson is an actor of legendary caliber, but this screenplay is attributed to her and it is absolutely terrible! Everyone involved in the making of this film should be ashamed! I tried very hard to find some redeeming value in this film, but there is none.

When most people think about how far women's rights have progressed in western society over the past century or two, they usually think about voting rights, but that just scratches the surface. There has also been much progress under many aspects of law, at the workplace… and in the home. I'm talking about the right of a woman to enjoy a happy marriage – free from physical and emotional abuse, and free to enjoy physical intimacy with her husband. Divorce may not have been illegal, in, say, Victorian England, but it was definitely frowned upon – even in the instances I just mentioned.Such was the problem of Euphemia "Effie" Gray. She was a Scottish girl of 19 who married 28-year-old family friend and renowned English art critic John Ruskin in 1848. Ruskin, however, never consummated the marriage and treated her in a manner that she described as "overbearing". After suffering in silence for years, she got support from some influential individuals and succeeded in having her marriage annulled. This meant some degree of social ostracism, but at least she was able to seek out a happy marriage and have a family. Her story has been told in a silent film, a short film, in radio plays, stage plays and an opera, in a short story and in a book, on TV, and now, in the feature-length motion picture "Effie Gray" (PG-13, 1:44).Dakota Fanning plays the title character in the film, written by (and co-starring) Emma Thompson, who has previously won an Oscar for acting and another for screen writing. Fanning plays Effie as full of youthful optimism when we see her leaving rural Scotland for her wedding to John Ruskin (Greg Wise) and her new life in the big city of London. The reality of her situation quickly sets in. Her in-laws don't think Effie is good enough for their son and are afraid that she's in it for the family money and the prestige of being married to a famous art critic. Effie has trouble adjusting to her new role, speaking up when she's expected to be quiet, and humbly trying to help when she is told it is not her place. She's basically expected to be seen and not heard. Effie is not okay with that, but she might have been able to live with it if her husband showed her some respect, or even a little affection.Effie's marriage was in trouble from the very beginning. We see a discretely filmed and heartbreaking scene on Effie's wedding night when Ruskin barely looks at his wife and even leaves his bedroom when she comes to him in girlish innocence and vulnerability. For reasons that are speculated on in the film and by historians to this day, Ruskin never consummates the marriage. This leaves Effie feeling lonely and unwanted, feelings that are compounded when Ruskin treats their contrasting personalities as a problem caused by Effie. The couple drifts apart further during an extended stay in Venice where Ruskin spends his time writing and Effie spends her time socializing and site seeing. We see her slowly sink into depression and even become physically ill. The couple travels to her native Scotland for her health and are joined by up-and-coming painter John Everett Millais (Tom Sturridge), who is there to paint Ruskin's portrait. Living in the same cottage as the couple, Millais sees first-hand what Effie is dealing with and encourages her to leave her husband. When she finally opens up to a concerned society woman, Lady Eastlake (Thompson), she receives the help she needs, but it's not that simple. Effie has some tough decisions to make and a tough road ahead including the prospect of being a social pariah for the rest of her life, with no guarantee that her freedom will actually make her life better."Effie Gray" is a simple, but engaging story. It deepens the understanding of what it was like to be a woman in the 19th century and shows us how far women have come in western society. Some audience members may wish the film showed more of Effie's story, but, contrary to the film's title, Thompson's script isn't as much a biopic as a portrait of one young woman's struggle for her right to be happy. Making a movie with such a narrow focus allows for a certain depth in the plot and the freedom to explore a very small number of issues, but also slows the pace at which the story develops. Thompson has every right to choose to tell Effie's story in this way, as I have the right to feel disappointed at not seeing the dramatic moments of Effie's story that occurred after the movie's script runs out. The film is beautifully shot, nicely-acted and well-written, even if it feels incomplete. "B"

In some places billed as a story of a terrible scandal, the film fails to deliver on that promise in any way. The 'facts' of the story that are on display in this film are all those that may have led up to scandal, but nothing here tells of what happened when (if) it broke! Lit as if it all took place in midwinter in the half light, I can only guess at the costumes and the sets as mostly o just saw pale faces in a sea of shadows. It is very slowly plotted, taking at least 30 minutes to get going, and the music drags it down even further into dullness, but the real shame of the film is its failure to make any real attempt to understand anyone except Effie herself. If the allegations the film makes are true (e.g. Mrs Ruskin senior was a poisoner) it's something that deserves more than the cardboard cutout that Julie Walters was given to play by way of an explanation. One expects licence in a 'based on a real life story' story (!) but it had the feel of a few bare facts knitted together with 90% fiction, which is a strange mix. I confess to not knowing how much was true and how much was Emma's own imagination, but it certainly felt like Victoria n morality and mores crudely put through the mincer of modern ideas. Badly done Emma, badly done!