Period Stuff
I finished watching the 2006 version of Jane Eyre tonight. It was entertaining and skilfully made, but I felt it lacked passion. Mostly I thought it was because of the actor who played Mr. Rochester; to me he was more playful and flirty than the grumpy, ill-tempered man of the book. I really prefer Ciarán Hinds's Mr. Rochester in the 1997 version; he and Samantha Morton had incredible passion and chemistry, which is sort of strange as this 2006 version was touted as "sexy". Also, neither Jane nor Mr. Rochester are supposed to be goodlooking - Jane Eyre truly is a tribute to loving the personality, not the "hotness" or the looks. But Toby Stephens is very pretty, and I thought it played a part in why he isn't my Mr Rochester; I wanted raw, wild, and edgy, and instead got primped, flirty, and handsome. So, I will still heartily recommend the 1997 version.
I also watched the 2007 Mansfield Park. It wasn't as terrible as I had thought; with an actress who would actually have been like Fanny it might have been tolerable. Now Fanny had clearly dyed blonde hair and she was happy and constantly skipped about in the house. Sigh, what is it with our modern times when we have to modernise and sex-up each and every character? Edmund was very good in this version, though, and I loved seeing James D'Arcy (did anyone watch the video in my previous post?) in a sort of "bad boy" role as Tom Bertram.
And continuing with period drama...the new movie, The Duchess, is opening around the world (here only on January 9th, though).
As a (British) history buff I'm excited about it, but I'm a bit bummed that Keira Knightley is playing the title role (Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire). She's fine and all that, but to me she doesn't have a period appropriate mien; she's too modern. But Voldy's in it (Ralph Fiennes), and that alone is enough for me to watch it. I checked out the trailer - looks like they're bringing in the Princess Diana comparisons heavily:
Next year will be a good movie year. :-)
I also watched the 2007 Mansfield Park. It wasn't as terrible as I had thought; with an actress who would actually have been like Fanny it might have been tolerable. Now Fanny had clearly dyed blonde hair and she was happy and constantly skipped about in the house. Sigh, what is it with our modern times when we have to modernise and sex-up each and every character? Edmund was very good in this version, though, and I loved seeing James D'Arcy (did anyone watch the video in my previous post?) in a sort of "bad boy" role as Tom Bertram.
And continuing with period drama...the new movie, The Duchess, is opening around the world (here only on January 9th, though).
As a (British) history buff I'm excited about it, but I'm a bit bummed that Keira Knightley is playing the title role (Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire). She's fine and all that, but to me she doesn't have a period appropriate mien; she's too modern. But Voldy's in it (Ralph Fiennes), and that alone is enough for me to watch it. I checked out the trailer - looks like they're bringing in the Princess Diana comparisons heavily:
Click to viewNext year will be a good movie year. :-)