With a haunting score and outstanding performances by a true ensemble cast, EFFIE GRAY will inspire those with passion for art and life. Shot on location in Scotland, London, and Venice, EFFIE GRAY is a beautiful portrait of a young woman’s inner strength and the world she so desperately tried to escape. Her watchful eye and skilled hand play such a massive part in this historical drama. I could think of no other woman to play this part. Emma Thompson portrays Lady Eastlake with an ease known to few actresses of our time. The handsome Tom Sturridge plays Pre-Raphaelite Painter, John Everett Millais and the eventual object of Miss Gray’s affection. Weasley in the beloved Harry Potter films, Walters is a crazed woman who needs to “cut the cord” already. Ruskin, is just about as serpentine as one comes. His temperament grows increasingly more horrid and he is borderline frightening at moments. Greg Wise is a stifled tyrant as John Ruskin. She has just enough tenacity to pull off a role with an arc such as this.
Dakota Fanning is elegant and vulnerable as Effie. One of the loveliest aspects of the film, visually, is the juxtaposition of paintings that reflect where Effie is on her emotional journey through time.
The film is artistically crafted by Emma Thompson with careful detail of Victorian society alongside the world of art. In an age where divorce was simply not an option, Effie Gray finds a loophole allowing her move forward with someone who loves her deeply. Without giving too much away, this film actually becomes a wonderful example of the power of a determined woman. This virgin bride suffered years of emotional abuse until encountering a helpful soul and patron of the arts, Lady Eastlake. Although once married, she was discouraged from speaking her views, sexually rejected, and labeled a harlot by the one person she sought affection from. Ruskin was a progressive and outspoken art critic, which is what attracted Effie as a child. Parties and showing social grace in a world where she was an object for show became increasingly more smothering and confusing. With dreams of entering a love filled marriage, Effie was thrown into high society under an overbearing mother-in-law and a frigid husband. Effie Gray was a real life young women wed to infamous art critic, John Ruskin. Women joined the family of their husband and were better seen and not heard. Courting is essentially a thing of the past in today’s society.
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