Eliya Sara – Google

I never give 5 stars. As such, I was completely surprised by this movie. It is ravishing in a very British way. Everything is nuanced, withheld, seen and then gone. The actors are brilliant. Day-Lewis was superlative, he made me hate Cecil deeply. Bonham-Carter was gorgeous and stubborn and flighty and perfectly suited to the role. The dialogue is lovely, the scenery is practically edible, and the story line is faithful to the book and one of the most dexterous I have seen. A brilliant, brilliant movie.

A pretentiously staid, American-made movie that attempts to fit a very specific 'historical romance' style and utterly fails, mainly due to the directorial decisions. The actors are all very good, but the incredibly blunt and nuance-less dialogue makes it a movie that is very hard to watch. It is also rather long, and the droning American voice-overs make it even more difficult to fully get into. Day-Lewis is perfect, as always, and Pfeiffer and Ryder put up good fights against the dullness of the dialogue, but in the end there is no hiding that this is a movie lacking much needed tact, dexterity and narrative drive. Watch it on a rainy day if you are utterly bored with your life, but for me the endless waltzes played over shots of stuffy drawing rooms and garish set design completely put me off.

A work of unparalleled scope and literary brilliance. Joyce manages to distill the most detailed thoughts, imagery and concepts down into the space of a few words, often through referencing obscure texts and philosophies, but also incorporating plenty of known psychology, philosophy and myth (Most commonly the Old Testament). As a 17yr old, I know that being able to fully comprehend even half of the book would be entirely out of my capability, but I don't sympathise with those that condemn this book because of its 'unreadability'. As if a book is there to be understood as easily as possible, and to convey its information in the most efficient manner. No. That is what a road sign does. Books do not share their function. (unless of course, they are non-fiction works of practical application). The point of a book is not in its readability, it is in its beauty, poetry, capacity and virtuosity, all of which Joyce accomplishes in the most breathtakingly masterful way. Its daunting obliqueness is part of the joy of reading it. It allows the sound, rhythm and pure auditory pleasure of the words to shine through. It becomes one long, tumultous meditation on language, meaning and myth. Here's to Joyce.