{"id":3997,"date":"2017-12-10T06:34:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-09T20:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/?p=3997"},"modified":"2017-12-08T15:18:21","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T05:18:21","slug":"tulip-fever-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/tulip-fever-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Tulip Fever – movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tulip Fever<\/em> is a melodramatic bodice-ripper set in Amsterdam in 1634. Tulips were highly prized and a source of great wealth. Playing out against this backdrop of an economic bubble is a more formulaic story of romance,\u00a0deception and\u00a0<\/span>betrayal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Sophia (Alicia Vikander) has been raised in an orphanage. The pipe-smoking abbess (Judi Dench) seems to have a key role in the growth of the tulip market, where fortunes can be made or lost. The abbess arranges for Sophia to be married off to the widowed Cornelis Sandvoort (Christoph Waltz), a wealthy spice merchant. All Cornelis wants is a son and heir to carry on the family legacy. But when Sophia seems unable to fall pregnant, Cornelis commissions impoverished artist Jan Van Loos (Dane DeHaan) to paint a portrait of the couple.<\/p>\n

Van Loos and Sophia embark on a torrid affair behind Cornelis\u2019 back. Van Loos then hatches a desperate plot to allow Sophia to escape from her loveless marriage and run away with him. Caught up in the plot is Sophia\u2019s loyal maid Maria (Holliday Grainger), who is in love with local fishmonger Will (Jack O\u2019Connell). Maria\u2019s own pregnancy plays a key role in the deception, as does the volatile tulip market.<\/p>\n

Tulip Fever<\/em> is based on the best-selling 1999 novel written by Deborah Moggach. Her novel These Foolish Things<\/em> was adapted for the screen as the feelgood The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel<\/em>. Moggach collaborated with acclaimed playwright and Oscar winning screenwriter Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love<\/em>) on the screenplay. Surprisingly though, given Stoppard\u2019s impressive reputation as a wordsmith, this is quite a dull film. Some of the dialogue is wooden and cliched. The central scenario requires a healthy suspension of disbelief and often plays out like a bad farce.<\/p>\n

Justin Chadwick, who previously gave us the sumptuous period piece The Other Boleyn Girl<\/em>, is in the director’s chair. His attention to recreating the authentic period detail is again evocative. But while the first half of the film is quite engaging, the second half falls apart with lots of busy subplots and characters that ultimately make little sense. Chadwick\u2019s direction is laboured, and the film is unevenly paced.<\/p>\n

However, Tulip Fever<\/em> looks good; as Chadwick and his cinematographer Eigil Bryld capture the crowded streets, marketplaces and canals of 17th Century Amsterdam. Michael O\u2019Connor\u2019s costumes, the superb atmospheric setting, and Simon Elliott\u2019s handsome production design are all exquisite. Danny Elfman provides a typically lush score.<\/p>\n