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Review: "Jane Eyre" (2011)
May. 14th, 2011 11:09 pmI saw the latest movie adaptation of Jane Eyre today. I promised a couple of co-workers I'd tell them what I thought, so I decided to inflict you with my review as well.
Obviously, the entire book cannot be fitted into a single movie. I was hoping there wouldn't be enough time to properly dwell on all the horrors of her life, and there wasn't. Her childhood looked like it might not have been much worse than a normal childhood with an obnoxious brother and a parent with obvious favorites. Her school looked like a not very good school rather than one where, for example, all the students were always on the verge of starvation. Things that took years and decades to get through seemed to go by quite quickly.
However, the movie also lost most of the suspense and most of the horror/occult. It's basically just a romance. And you don't really get to know even the main characters very well because they don't let you see inside their heads at all.
They did keep some of the good scenes and some of the good dialog. Judi Dench made me like the housekeeper. I like that they didn't make the two main characters far too pretty. But all the scenery looked pretty good.
So, how is it as just a random romance movie, with old-timey language? I basically liked it. It's a typical romance story line, only so very British with the lack of visible emotion. There is one scene where I thought she was leaving one teaching job, but actually she's leaving another one that they never mention (as far as I remember), which made the whole story line a little confusing.
The most interesting thing is how I felt as I left the theatre. I felt kind of weepy and sappy, in a good way. Appreciative, really, like at the end of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." The weather was fabulous, a rare sunny but breezy and nice day. It felt like walking through the moors, even though I was walking through a parking lot. With speed bumps.
If you loved the book, you will probably find the move sorely lacking. If you don't like 19th century dialog unless it's witty, you probably won't like the movie. If you like pretty scenery and 19th-century costumes and romances, you might like this.
Obviously, the entire book cannot be fitted into a single movie. I was hoping there wouldn't be enough time to properly dwell on all the horrors of her life, and there wasn't. Her childhood looked like it might not have been much worse than a normal childhood with an obnoxious brother and a parent with obvious favorites. Her school looked like a not very good school rather than one where, for example, all the students were always on the verge of starvation. Things that took years and decades to get through seemed to go by quite quickly.
However, the movie also lost most of the suspense and most of the horror/occult. It's basically just a romance. And you don't really get to know even the main characters very well because they don't let you see inside their heads at all.
They did keep some of the good scenes and some of the good dialog. Judi Dench made me like the housekeeper. I like that they didn't make the two main characters far too pretty. But all the scenery looked pretty good.
So, how is it as just a random romance movie, with old-timey language? I basically liked it. It's a typical romance story line, only so very British with the lack of visible emotion. There is one scene where I thought she was leaving one teaching job, but actually she's leaving another one that they never mention (as far as I remember), which made the whole story line a little confusing.
The most interesting thing is how I felt as I left the theatre. I felt kind of weepy and sappy, in a good way. Appreciative, really, like at the end of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." The weather was fabulous, a rare sunny but breezy and nice day. It felt like walking through the moors, even though I was walking through a parking lot. With speed bumps.
If you loved the book, you will probably find the move sorely lacking. If you don't like 19th century dialog unless it's witty, you probably won't like the movie. If you like pretty scenery and 19th-century costumes and romances, you might like this.