Jane Eyre

Lately I've been very much into the Bronte sisters (well Emily and Charlotte anyway). It used to be that I just liked Emily, you know Wuthering Heights and all, but then I read Charlotte's Jane Eyre last year and fell in love with it all over again. It is definitely more romantic than Wuthering Heights, because Jane and Edward truly love each other (you could argue the same for Cathy and Heathcliff, but their relationship is shall we say more complex). So naturally I have seen every single version of Jane Eyre that I could get my hands on and I absolutely love this Masterpiece Theater version (oh, disc 2 is great). Then I saw over the holidays movie posters for a new big screen 2011 Jane Eyre. It was hard to contain my excitement. Waiting until March 11th was near torture. I was super excited that Alice from Alice in Wonderland was going to play Jane and that it was suppose to be a beautiful and scary version. Beautiful! Scary! Yay! That is right up my alley. So the week of it's release came along ("Jane Eyre" was written boldly on Mar. 11th on all of my calendars) yet Jane Eyre was no where to be found in any movie theaters. I couldn't believe it! So I called all the different movie theater franchises here in CO (frantically the night before it's release) and found it had a very limited release on March 11th and probably wouldn't come to theaters in CO for a while. I was crushed. I honestly felt depressed. My name is Jenni and I am a movie junkie. I know. And I am especially a period costumed drama movie junkie. It is a weakness, I'll admit, but one I'm willing to live with. The whole weekend after its non-actual release date I was in a funk. Adrian and I went to Red Riding Hood instead and it was dismally non-Jane Eyre-ish. The romance wasn't even close. Nor was it scary. I remaining in my funk.

Until yesterday! My funk was cured. A small independent movie theater in the heart of Denver started playing Jane Eyre. Adrian and I went. Don't I have a very sympathetic and supportive husband?! The theather was the cutest and tiniest theater I have ever seen. Only 2 screens. It reminded me of the Alhambra of the early 90's in Pleasant Grove (Utah). And along with playing Jane Eyre which already won them huge patron points from me, they play fun midnight movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail. How cool.

Back to the movie. It was AWEsome. It was everything a Jane Eyre should be with wonderful acting and beautiful imagery. Mia Wasikowska as Jane was perfect and Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester was very enjoyable. The costumes were great. The chemistry between Jane and Rochester was lovely. And yes it was even a little scary. At one part we all jumped. Nice. Being a condensed big screen version they skip over tons of course, but what they did include was right on. I just loved it! Adrian says it was very well done (he's sat with me through a couple different versions in varying stages of willingness so his opinion is also valid :)). I wish I could go over and over again, but it's playing so far away. Hopefully if the movie catches on it will be released in more theaters. Look what's happened with The King's Speech. So I'll hope for that. Otherwise if they could release it on DVD asap I would also be satisfied. Anyone want to head to Denver with me for another viewing??

*Yes that is me pointing to the Jane Eyre sign with almost crazed giddiness after arriving at the theater.

**Note: the frenzy and crazy of this post might remind you of my post about the late night trickery I employed to get Adrian to go with me to buy New Moon. Indeed my mind goes to this crazy movie place often. I need to work on it. Maybe.