Review: Effie Gray
The uncoupling of noted Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his wife Euphemia "Effie" Gray was quite the scandal of its time. Though together for five years, the marriage was never consummated for reasons unknown, though an aversion to children, a preference to preserve her purity, and a disgust with her body were among the excuses he offered. As if the charge of impotency was not enough, Effie's subsequent marriage to Ruskin's protégé, pre-Raphaelite artist Everett Millais continued to fan the flames of gossip. The period drama Effie Gray largely avoids the fallout from the famous love triangle in favour of what preceded it, namely Effie's life as prisoner in the institution of marriage.
The film sketches the preliminaries with fairy tale-like simplicity: she was 12 and living in the home where Ruskin's grandfather killed himself. Ruskin (Greg Wise) thought her an angel and married her once she was eligible, taking her home to Denmark Hill where he is mollycoddled by his mother (Julie Walters), ignored and disapproved of by his father (David Suchet), and enslaved to his work. Effie, who seems to have been the center of his attention before their marriage (he wrote a novel for her and painted her), finds herself subjugated to the sidelines with all efforts to look after her husband consistently dismissed by her mother-in-law. "You have married no ordinary man," she tells Effie, "[and] the best way you can help him is by leaving him alone."
Her husband's inattentiveness and the suffocating atmosphere of Denmark Hill take their toll on Effie, who is beset with one ailment after another. A trip to Venice lifts her spirits, though Ruskin leaves her in the company of a Viscountess (Claudia Cardinale) and her young attendant Rafael (Riccardo Scamarcio), whose advances Effie later rebuffs. There are instances of Ruskin's psychological cruelty in the way he punishes Effie for communicating her desire. The trip to Venice comes on the heels of a doctor (Robbie Coltrane) all but ordering Ruskin to pay more attention to his wife, whilst a sojourn to Scotland follows Effie's bold attempt at physical contact with her revulsed husband. Time and time again, he reacts by placing her in situations that threaten her reputation as an upstanding wife. He all but plays matchmaker when he commissions Millais to accompany them to Scotland, ostensibly to paint his portrait, and then leaves the artist alone with Effie for several days.
For all the suppressed sexuality and psychological perversity percolating beneath the surface, Effie Gray is a muted and sedated affair. Bosoms go unheaved, which is the prerogative of the filmmakers, but to have the film devoid of passion is another thing entirely. Tom Sturridge makes for a sweet and sad-eyed Millais, but there is no sense of romantic longing between him and Dakota Fanning. The young actress does her level best to convey some inner life, to provide an answer to the question, "Who are you when you are not Mrs. John Ruskin?" Most of the scenes require her to be in a passive daze, and very little is given to offer an even partially detailed portrait of Effie as an individual.
Tellingly, Fanning's strongest scenes arise from attempts to assert herself as a flesh and blood woman. The touch that results in the journey to Scotland begins with an almost wraithlike Fanning turning from a window to approach her husband. The intensity that reverberates from Fanning during that moment almost matches the one sustained by Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adèle H, another true story of a woman undone by unrequited passion. An earlier scene has the newlyweds in a carriage on their way to Denmark Hill. Effie notes this is the first time they have ever been alone together. There is a suggestive lilt in the way Fanning delivers the line that is an invitation to intimacy. Instead, Ruskin asks her to close her eyes so he can gaze upon her as if she were a subject in a painting.
Much of Effie Gray works in this way - viewing its heroine as if from a distance until the film becomes distanced from itself. Costume and production design reinforce Effie's oppression. There's a submerged mournfulness to the film that never gets shaken off, even at Effie's moment of triumph. Emma Thompson, who also wrote the screenplay, enlivens the proceedings as the liberal-minded Lady Eastlake, who champions Effie's cause. Derek Jacobi is amongst the impressive supporting cast, who are given far too little to do.
Effie Gray
Directed by: Richard Laxton
Written by: Emma Thompson
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Greg Wise, Emma Thompson, Tom Sturridge, Julie Walters, David Suchet, James Fox, Robbie Coltrane, Derek Jacobi, Claudia Cardinale, Riccardo Scamarcio, Russell Tovey
