The period drama "Tulip Mania," co-starring Alicia Vikander "Kimmeer", Dane DeHaan "Dai Hanhan" and Christopher Waltz, attempts to balance romance with economic crisis, to little effect.
"Tulip Mania," once considered a contender for the Golden Globes and even the Academy Awards in previous years, finally arrived in theaters nationwide on August 25, belatedly this fall. It is almost certain that the box office revenue of the film will not be very high when it is released, and this film should have a wider audience, a stronger response, and more praise from the media, but it is very ironic. The theme of "Tulip Mania" is that there are always "bubbles" between ideal and reality, and when these bubbles burst, the results can be disastrous, just like the film itself.
"Tulip Fever", directed by Justin Chadwick ("Another Boleyn Girl"), is set in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands in 1634, when a "tulip craze" prevailed, and this important historical period During this period, tulips began to be introduced to the Netherlands. The title of the film comes from an economic crisis caused by tulips in the Netherlands in the 17th century. At that time, the price of a tulip was equivalent to 10 times the annual income of ordinary people.
Dai Hanhan and Judi Dench
In the film, Sophia (Alicia Vikander), an orphan who has just come of age, marries Cornelius Sandvoort (Christopher Waltz), a much older businessman, whose first wife dies in childbirth. The marriage freed Sophia from poverty, but also placed the pressure on her to give Cornelius a child—preferably a male heir. Sophia and Jan fell in love after Cornelius found a poor young painter Jan Van Loos to paint the couple and paint them.
Meanwhile, the Sandvoorts' servant Maria (Holiday Granger) finds herself in love with a local fishmonger, William (Jack O'Connell). Poor but ambitious William invested his meager savings on a small batch of tulips, whose various bulbs soon showed up all over Amsterdam. Sophia finds out she can't get pregnant, but when Maria becomes pregnant, Sophia seizes the opportunity and plans to break away from the marriage and run away from the city with Jan.
"Tulip Mania" has existed for a while, whether as a project plan before it was filmed or as a finished film that has already been filmed. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Deborah Morgates. In 2004, Keira Knightley and Jude Law were set to play the male and female protagonists. Den will be reunited with screenwriter Tom Stoppard for the film (though the final version of "Tulips" did give Tom a screenwriting title).
gangster harvey weinstein
Changes in British film tax policy aborted this version of the "Tulip" project, and nine years later, producer Harvey Weinstein re-emphasized the material, when it was due to the 2012 "Anna Karenina" (coincidentally) Coincidentally, it was Kanmei, who co-starred with the aforementioned Kayla) and the little-known performer in "The Romance of the Royal Family", who decided to star in the film in 2013. Production began the following year, and in the summer of 2014, "Tulips" was filmed at various locations in England.
But working with the Weinstein brothers may not be easy, the New York-born brothers who are avid independent film lovers, have been involved in each or two of the films they have supported and helped shape (including Shakespeare in Love, Good Will Hunting). etc.), there will always be directors who conflict with their (usually Harvey) philosophies. It will be discovered later that the film has been shelved again, that it will suffer endless delays, and that the marketing plan for the final release will, at best, make people less interested in the film.
This is the case with "Tulip Fever". This film has been filmed for at least 2 years, and the release date has been announced for several rounds, but it is still being postponed. For this film, time seems to stand still in 2014. Among the rising stars in the film, Kan Meier is getting more and more popular, while the popularity of Dai Hanhan and O'Connell has been tepid.
Kan Meier and Dai Hanhan
For American audiences familiar with the behind-the-scenes events, the film itself may be difficult to evaluate, it's not great, but it's not bad, so why wait so long for it to be released? For overseas audiences who don't know anything about these behind the scenes, they may shrug indifferently after watching it. While viewers may find the universal theme of "relationships" resonant, they may not be able to relate to the economic background mentioned in the title.
In any case, Kanmeier is still beautiful and natural in "Tulip Mania". Danish photographer Eigil Bryld is known for the powerful sense of the shots in "House of Cards" and "Killer No Vacation". Kanmeier is full of admiration. While director Chadwick has her occasionally looking directly into the camera (in the Sophia and Jan scenes), this gives the film a subjective weight and emphasises its passion and lust. Kanmeier's performance also balances impulsiveness and pragmatism well.
But the most embarrassing aspect of Tulip Mania is its narrative structure, and its attempt to force an analogy between the love storyline (Sophia and Jan, Sophia and Cornelius, and Maria and William) and speculation in the tulip bulb market This will make the underground relationship between Sophia and Jan seem to be unmotivated from the character's point of view, and the overall setting will collapse.
Original cover of "Tulip Mania"
There are quite a few familiar faces in "Tulip Mania", including Carla Delevingne, who starred with Dai Hanhan in "Interstellar: The City of a Thousand Planets", who made a cameo appearance as a thief and prostitute; and "The Hangover" Zach Galifianakis's role is small, but as Jan's drunken friend Gerrit, the role is very important; Judi Dench is the nun who monitors the orphanage where Tulip grew up - St. Ursula .
The film is actually a collection of multiple romances in which characters often make bad decisions and then try to avoid the worst consequences. "Tulip Fever" lacks neutral perspective, and Sophia is more of a mystery, handcuffed by the writers because they chose Maria as the voiceover. For fans of historical dramas, "Tulips" will be a good pastime, but emotionally it doesn't leave an impression, which makes people wonder, what exactly was written in the original novel?
"Tulip Fever" will be released in the United States on August 25.
Author: Brent Simon
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