It was one of history’s great economic bubbles: a period in 17th century Holland when a single tulip bulb could be worth an obscene amount of money. During this time of manic financial fervor in the cosmopolitan city of Amsterdam, we meet Sophia (played by Alicia Vikander, who won an Academy-Award for her work opposite Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl). She’s an orphan girl married to an older merchant (Christoph Waltz), but when she falls in love with an artist who has been hired to paint her portrait, Sophia and her maid hatch a bold conspiracy designed to offer a means of escape. The cast — including Judi Dench, Zach Galifianakis and Matthew Morrison — is copious and accomplished, and the film lives up to the “fever” of its title: offering plenty of characters, plots and machinations. THE WORD: A capable period piece that delivers a stellar cast — and even a few of those titular tulips. COMING TO: Theaters
Last modified: July 22, 2019
