Movie Review: Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre Poster Image via Kurtodrome

On their first meeting, Jane Eyre tells Mr. Rochester she has no tale of woe. This isn't true. Jane has woe, she just doesn't want to tell him about it. She grew up an orphan with a nasty aunt who favored her own spoiled son who, predictably, enjoyed tormenting Jane. Eventually, she is sent to reform school where the ruthless nuns take an instant dislike to her, encouraging all her peers to do the same. She spends her first day standing on a chair above the others, without food or water as public humiliation for a vague charge of lying. Her best and only friend dies of fever within a few months. But that woe is hardly worth mentioning, considering what lies ahead for old Jane.

Mr. Rochester has hired Jane as governess for his niece, whom he has adopted after her mother's death. His estate sits on a desolate part of the heath where there is rarely other human companionship, especially of the quality deemed appropriate for Mr. Rochester. Obviously, in Victorian England, someone like Mr. Rochester cannot converse as an equal with mere servants. As a well educated and refined young woman, Jane is excluded from this rule. Mr. Rochester's brutish attempts to draw Jayne out irritate her at first, but it soon becomes clear that he is suffering from a broken spirit and a very strange secret. Slowly, they become friends, and eventually, she begins to feel strongly attached to him, even though she knows their love can never be. Talk about Romantic Longing! This has it ALL OVER Twilight, people. 

I'd read the novel many years ago, and I remember crying my eyes out when I finished- so tender, so heartbreaking, and so exactly the kind of dramatic, passionate love that every young girl fantasizes about. I wasn't sure what to expect from the film, but I was delighted by every frame. It perfectly captured the haunting, brooding mood of this story set on the dreary, windswept moor in a dark and grand old castle. 

Actress Mia Wasikowska portrays Jayne perfectly as rather a plain, quiet, person with a burning spirit within her. Her manner and costumes reminded me of the one photographic portrait of poet Emily Dickinson. Jane seems quiet and mousy, but her interior world is ablaze with life and passion. Michael Fassbender is unbelievably sexy as the tortured Mr. Rochester. That their love cannot be acted upon only ignites their passions further. I'm telling you, Charlotte  Bronte, Moira Buffini and Cary Fukunaga gave Eric and I a great date night flick.

Have you watched anything great lately? I'd love another romance as smart and sexy as this one.

I Watch Louie & You Should Too.

There is a lot of trash on television. My current tivo que is pretty short, especially now that Oprah is gone: The Daily Show (if E turns it on) 30 Rock (which seems to be on the downslope) Jamie at Home and my Not-Even-the-Teensiest-Bit-of- Guilty-Pleasure; Project Runway.

I like shows that are believable, humorous and thought provoking. Entertainment needs to give me something to chew on- I'm not just looking to kill time. (Usually. I did spend a few hours watching "Storage Wars" recently.)

So, the show Louie on FX is right up my alley. Though much has been made about how crude Louie C.K.'s standup is, I was immediately impressed by the fact that he had something genuine to say about modern life. It's not hardy har har shock and awe gross out humor. I am utterly done with that nonsense. I don't know what happened, but my threshold for boob jokes dropped to zero about six months ago. I watched a few episodes of Eastbound and Down recently and began to suspect that the "Isn't this Guy Stupid Premise" is all a screen to continue with the misogynistic nonsense we've supposedly gotten past. I'm so tired of this perspective- women as aloof, snobbish, bitches or stupid, skeezy bimbos. Isn't there a middle ground there? Isn't this 2011? Isn't half your audience is women?! Could you make something more interesting please?

So I found Louie's approach refreshing. He's wrenchingly honest about his interior life- examining his ego from every direction, finding it unbearably ugly and dealing with what he's seen by laughing at it.

This show must cost nothing to make. It's almost exclusively people in rooms talking, interspersed with clips of his standup. It's funny without being trite. It has pathos without being morose or melodramatic. It's real while simultaneously incorporating surreal elements. In a way, those strange moments make it feel even more life-like, because life is full of absurdities.

Louie doesn't conclude every episode with a Meaningful Lesson where Everything is Resolved Until Next Time! (This is the most tired trope of all television formulas.) But on the flip side of that, it doesn't involve a tangle of people shouting and being jerks. Apologies to Larry David, but nobody likes you and I don't want to watch a show about that. Louie is a jerk too, but he is self reflective about it, unlike Mr. David who seems incapable of realizing that he himself is at the root of every single one of his irritations and perceived slights.

I've never seen anything like Louie on television. And that's why I'll keep tuning in.

What are you watching lately?