Sylvia plath biography movie posters

Rosalind Moran

Forty years after her suicide, iconic author Sylvia Plath was immortalized onscreen in the 2003 film Sylvia. The film purports to be a biopic: from its all-encompassing title to its quoting of Plath’s poetry, it implies its own veracity and consequent value as a biographical depiction of Plath’s life.

Sylvia, however, merits study not for its quality or historical accuracy – being lacking in both – but rather for the way it adapts reality.

Sylvia plath biography movie posters for sale

The film is an interpretation of real people and their writing; what director Christine Jeffs chooses to include or omit about them, therefore, both reflects and contributes to how Plath and her work is understood. This truth is evident in aspects of the film ranging from paratexts and casting, to the centrality and stereotypes of the ‘love’ story, to the film’s voyeurism.

Indeed, considering Sylvia’s potential for misrepresenting reality, one wonders why it was made at all – and what it