Customer Reviews

Sylvia Plath: Growth of a Poet [VHS]

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Oh, my, where do I begin? I bought this tape not knowing anything about it other than it concerned Sylvia Plath. In fact, I thought it was a short documentary of Plath's life and work, with still photos and possibly interviews with fellow writers, recitation of poems, etc. Was I wrong! Well, not about the recitation of poems - just the form the recitation would take. Although the date on the tape was fairly recent (1990's) the actual film looks like it dates from the '70's. There is a strange, very stagey 'set' made up of ambiguous 'rooms', filled with weird props - a baby's cradle, dead flowers, half a kitchen. Vacuous and over-serious 'actors' (I use the term loosely) wander moodily through the rooms, quoting Plath's letters and reciting her poetry. The video looks a little like those pretentious Calvin Klein commercials from the '80's, but the models are wearing strange, polyester clothes and sport deliciously laughable '70's hair styles. The poems are chronological, beginning with "I thought that I could not be hurt" a poem Plath wrote when she was a teenager. It is not the best of her juvenilia, and one wonders why it is included here. The woman reciting the poem is quite chirpy, in keeping with Plath's false-self, doppleganger image - however, I am sure this is a coincidence and not intentional. That would be too deep. One of the highlights is an English 'actress' in a hysterical rendition of 'Lesbos.' Hysterical meaning her 'reading' often rose to the level of shrieking, and that it was roll-on-the- floor funny. I especially enjoyed the macabre touch of the actress sitting in front of a gas oven during part of her 'act.' Could anything be in worse taste? What were these people thinking? Also, they seem to have left out one line that contains the word 'masturbation', but they did retain 'baby crap', so they didn't completely censor the poem. There is one green-eyed pretty boy who seems to think he's God's gift to mirrors and acting, and his rendition of 'The Applicant' is not to be missed. Another bland male model type gives us his moody rendition of Mirror. A stainless steel kitchen sink is 1/2 full of water and is superimposed over his face as he reads us the poem. Wow. All I could concentrate on was the fact that they didn't bother to clean the sink completely, and there was a black insect or something at the top left side of the screen. After a spritely offering of "The Tour" by a munchkin with a shag I was ready to shoot myself. I don't know how this video actually got produced and distributed. And I keep picturing what they might do to other poets, like Emily Dickinson and Keats. The horror, the horror. If you are looking for illumination of Plath's work and life, or interviews, or good readings of her poems, this tape is not for you. If, on the other hand, you enjoy laughing at over-serious, bad acting, terrible 70's fashions and horrific stage design, you will love this video.

Please, no one buy this. If you really are a Plathophile, save yourself. I entirely agree with the other review. I rented this from my college library, and was aghast at how bad it was!