I was extremely excited when I first saw the trailer for Jane Eyre, primarily because the titular character was going to be played by Mia Wasikowsky. I will pause for a moment to talk about how much I adore this actress.
The first thing I ever saw her in was in a show I really hated called In Treatment. Gabrielle Byrne plays a psychiatrist and she played one of his patients. She was absolutely the reason I continued watching the show at all. She was magnetic; every time she was on screen I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She played a young gymnast who had been sexually abused by her coach, although she doesn’t recognize it as that when she first comes to him. Her performance was amazing and I was sure I would be hearing about her again.
Sure enough, in 2009 she was in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland which, while it was a fairly worthless film, made a whole lot of money and got her name out there. In 2010 she was in The Kids Are All Right which, while not a super meaty role for either of the kids interestingly, was Oscar nominated and certain to make people notice her. Then came Jane Eyre.
I have to admit that I have really no ties at all to the source material here. My mother decided I needed to read it when I was in high school or junior high. I never responded well to being forced to read books (for no particularly good reason) and I think I just made up my mind to hate it. I remember almost nothing about the story, all I remember is that I thought they talked too much and I tried to lie and claim I finished it. The lie was found out when mom asked me a few basic questions about the end and I had no idea. Maybe I would have liked it under different circumstances, I’m not sure. One of these days I’ll probably try reading it again.
When I saw the first trailer for the movie, I was very excited. It looked like they were really amping up the gothic, horror feel of the story and it looked really exciting. When it finally came to the local theater, I made a girls night and me, my mom and a couple of friends went to go see it. That was (I think) about 6 or 7 months ago and I can’t say that the story stuck with me a lot but I know I enjoyed watching it and I do remember the basic outline when I think back.
The thing I recall that most bothered me was the romance, to a certain extent. Mr. Rochester (played to perfection by Michael Fassbender) believes that Jane can save him, seems to think that she is going to be his redemption for all the mistakes he’s made and things he’s failed to do. I don’t personally find that romantic. I’m not a big fan of couples where either one thinks the other is their salvation.
That said, I love Jane. Independent, a mind of her own, earnestly wanting to make her own way in the world, talk about ahead of it’s time. I think most of the heroines I read or watch today could stand to learn a thing or two from Jane Eyre. So, very enjoyable, maybe not quite as memorable as I had hoped it would be but I will almost certainly revisit it at some point.
