plath pains

Sylvia Plath’s daughter is none too thrilled with the new movie on her mum, produced by the BBC, with Gwyneth Paltrow in the role of the gifted yet suicidal poet. As a result, none of Sylvia Plath’s poetry will actually be used in the film. I was mildly interested in the movie, but not anymore since, if the poetry is banned, the movie will inevitably focus on two things: Plath’s relationship with Ted Hughes, and the suicide. In other words, Plath will get the same treatment that Frida Kahlo received in the Salma Hayek movie (more about her stormy relationship with Rivera than about her art.) And it sounds as though that’s how the movie will be marketed: love affair between two great minds. Yawn.