I read Vanity Fair every couple of years- it truly is that good. It sparkles with cruel wit and depicts Becky's skill at manipulating the vanity of other social climbers to become the greatest social climber of them all. The satire in the book cuts right to the heart of the hypocrisy of the wealthy powerful of this period. The whole thing was condensed into a quickly garbled telling of the gist of the story- and reflected nothing of the original's attraction for me. Becky is manipulative and clever- behind a meek mask- but she should not be pretty. She is also evil and heartless - ignored in this production for some reason. To cast a physically lovely actress like Olivia Cooke is lazy- and misses the point. Amelia was miscast too. It is not an adaptation at all- they have simply re-written Vanity Fair for Millenials. The best adaptation I ever saw was the 1998 version with Eve Mathieson. Vanity Fair was a classic very much of it's time. Rather than modernise classics- I wish writers would just produce their own story. Martin Clunes and Frances de La Tour were excellent as they always are- and Johnny Flynn handled Dobbin well. Dobbin can often come across as wooden- but again- Johnny Flynn was a handsome Dobbin. He should not have been. The whole point of this 'book without a hero' is how judging anyone on their looks alone is pointless and frivolous. With the budget and modern production techniques available- this was a missed opportunity. It was not Vanity Fair.
Review of Vanity Fair
