Watched "Sylvia"; & although it wasn't terribly
insightful, i liked it just for giving me images
of her place & time to contemplate. I had been
quite skeptical of Gwyneth Paltrow from the day
i heard of her casting, but she did an adequate
job for the role as it was written (particularly
in the second half)--my one real disagreement
was (of course) the simplemindedness with which
the writers approach the subject of making poems.
The idea seems to be that it was the experience
of having Ted leave her, that made her become a
great poet. Whereas, it was instead the quality
of ear & imagination with which she put words
together. Just to be perverse, i will argue
instead that it was his reaction to the shock
of her suicide, that made Ted Hughes write his
one great book of poems, Crow.