Ref: Mulhern
#34 Everything Must Go
I almost rented this one, but eventually decided it looked too depressing to watch solo. It probably lost out in favor of a repeat viewing of Leap Year, because that's how I roll.
#33 A Better Life
I wasn't familiar with this film before reading Mulhern's review. So, instead, I will tell you about...
#33 Jane Eyre
Mia Wasikowska shines as the titular governess, although "shines" isn't the type of descriptor the self-envisioned plain Jane would employ. Orphaned and cast aside, Jane endures a miserable boarding school upbringing before becoming employed as caretaker of a young ward in the grand - if isolated - Thornfield House, owned by aloof, tempestuous gentleman Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender, fully clothed) run by practical Mrs. Fairfax (Dame Judy Dench). While Rochester is in residence, Jane saves him from a mysterious fire and feels certain she imagines the romantic undertones she sees in his attentions. Despite her better instincts and the oblique warnings of Mrs. Fairfax, Jane and Rochester fall in love and prepare to marry - but her happiness is shattered when a dark secret Rochester has been keeping is revealed. Jane flees, becomes lost and is taken in by a sketchy clergyman, St John Rivers, and his two sisters. Hiding her identity, she begins working as a teacher at a local school and imagines a quiet existence in harmony with her newfound sibling stand-ins. However, St John demands they marry - so Jane flees back to Thornfield, which has burned to the ground, and *spoiler alert* finds Rochester, blinded in the fire set by the unhinged wife he kept locked in the house for her own safety, who died by jumping from the house as it burned. Still in love, they presumable get married and live happily ever after. Much like some other Austen adaptations, like 2005's Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre boasts excellent camera work, with softly-lit landscapes and household finery setting the scene for understated but powerful performances.
No comments:
Post a Comment