Melodramatic and excruciatingly slow

Rating: 2/10 (28 January 2008)

I was all set to be really impressed with this film but nearly laughed at how ridiculously serious it took itself; this when I wasn't bored out of my mind wondering if I should bother watching it to the end. I assume the director wanted a melodramatic feel as if watching an old Humphrey Bogart flick before actors learned how to be natural on camera. It kept bringing to mind Madeline Kahn and Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein and I couldn't help but imagine a spoof on Saturday Night Live. The exception was Vanessa Redgrave, but her part was an all-too-brief scene at the very end.
The plot moved so slow at times I wondered if they skipped dailies all together and just left every scene in. The DP did an exceptional job, but that's about all I can say. That, and Vanessa Redgrave is a goddess. But it amazes me that this movie is getting any attention whatsoever. It must be from people who loved the book. FTR, I haven't read it.