Tuesday, May 10, 2011

In Which Georgie Rambles On the Subject of Jane Eyre

After watching the new Jane Eyre a few nights ago, writing a review was inevitable. I didn't really think I would, but as my thoughts came together I decided to share with those who may be interested.

Jane Eyre. I watched the 2006 Masterpiece Theatre version several years ago and discovered this story different. This one stood out to me. It wasn't just another period film that ran together, like all of the Jane Austin adaptions. I was fascinated. Enough so to read the book. So, news of this movie excited me as much as any other fan out there. Judie Dench, Jamie Bell, Mia Wasikowska. Oh yes.

They all did an amazing job. You can't really expect any less of them though. Mia graduated into a favorite actress of mine.

Jamie Bell was awesome, but for some reason I did not like John Rivers in this adaption. I liked him in the book, and in the 2006 version, but not this one. I think it was more due to his lines and such than anything else. He was made more awkward and sullen than I remember.

Although there was a lot taken out, it did remain true to the book. There was one point when I thought everything had taken a completely different turn, only to discover it was all in Jane's mind. I do think they did a pretty good job of shortening what would have be an extremely long film, although there were certain things that I thought there should have been more of. Such as Grace Poole. You see nothing of her till Jane finds out about Mrs. Rochester.

Last, but not least, the ending was a little to romantically cheesy for me.

Over all: I left the theater wanting to write something mysterious, yet beautiful at the same time. I liked it, but I like the Masterpiece Theater adaption much better.

5 comments:

  1. I want to see it, especially since I finished the book recently, :D

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  2. Good post. I still need, er, *should* watch this. :D Jamie is always awesome, but I've heard from everyone that he wasn't the greatest for the role.
    (Fun fact, btw- because all the British actors are always SO immersed in all the classic film adaptions like the Austen books and Jane Eyre and things like that to the point that it gets painful, when Jamie heard he got Jane Eyre he was like, "You're kidding me, right?" XD!)

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  3. Did you know Georgie Henley (Lucy Pevensie from the Narnia films) played the little Jane Eyre in the movie??? Yup.

    And I was like, freaking out, when I kept seeing the name "Georgie" in all of your titles. I was like, "Is she pretending to be Georgie Henley"? or "Is she a crazy big Narnia fan???" So ya.

    I'm a HUUUUUUGE Georgie Henley fan!!
    LOL

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