Tulip Fever 2017

     The setting of this film is Amsterdam of the 17^th Century.  Sophia has been living in an orphanage and she is forced to marry a rich and powerful merchant.  Cornelis Sandvoort is saving Sophia from poverty.  Cornelis commissions a portrait to be painted by Jan Van Loos.  Jan is a struggling artist and Sophia falls in love with him.  In order to make some get-away money, Sophia and Jan enter the highly competitive tulip market.  The right rare bulb will bring a fortune and their freedom. 

     I had a difficult time concentrating during viewing.  This should be an exciting introspect of the tulip market but it’s like watching the paint dry on the canvases?  All I could think about were the ridiculous white pleated collars of this time period.  How did they keep them white and weren’t their necks dirty?  Everyone is stiff and starched like the white collars may have been?  So much of this film has been done many times before and the only edge is the tulips!!  1 ½* (I really didn’t like this movie)    

105 min, Drama directed by Justin Chadwich with Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan, Jack O’Connell, Holliday Grainger, Tom Hollander, Matthew Morrison, Kevin McKidd, Douglas Hodge, Joanna Scanlan, Zach Galifianakis, Judi Dench.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, 9% audience 45% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*, Metacritic 38 out of 100 with 21 critics 4.6 out of 10 with 28 reviews, The Guardian 2* out of 5* review by Jordan Hoffman, Amazon 3.6* out of 5* with 25 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in London, Norfolk, Essex, Kent, Buckinghamshire, England, UK and Austria.  This film was originally scheduled for production in 2004 with Jude Law and Keira Knightley.  John Maddes was to be the director.  There were changes in the tax rules affecting film production in the UK and this cause filming to be delayed until 2014.  The release date was 1 September 2017 in the USA.  Portrait artist Jamie Routley painted the portraits