If you don’t like Jane Eyre, skip this post

Guess what?  I just found out that there is a new movie version of “Jane Eyre” coming out in March.   Happy happy happy Ginny!

It has a British cast, thankfully (not to be a snob, but that’s always a plus if you’re adapting a classic of English literature) and it looks, from the above preview, to be quite good.  I’m getting a positive vibe about it, and believe you me — I’m picky about my Jane Eyres.  It’s my favorite novel from way way back — from college, at least, when I identified so powerfully with the title character — and I like to see it done justice.   The 2006 Masterpiece Theatre production was pretty good, the best I’ve seen so far — though there is room for improvement, and I hope this new version delivers.  At the very least, I hope it does what no other version has ever managed to do, and that is to get the character of St. John Rivers right.  (Frankly, I find him the most chilling person in the entire novel — he makes the vampire wife seem like a desirable dinner companion.)  Most movie screenwriters spend approximately ten minutes on the entire St. John section, which is, like, a third of the novel. How do they do it and still respect themselves in the morning?  Beats me.

But anyhow!  March 11 is the opening date.   I’d better start lining up a sitter and cajoling my husband to go with me.  A movie without explosions is not exactly his first choice, especially since we see approximately 1.5 movies a year, but he may make an exception.  And there is a big destructive fire/attempted rescue at the end of the story, not to mention some knife-and-biting action on the part of the crazy wife — that may make up for the crinolines and bonnets.

P.S.  If you are a Brontë-nerd like me, check out this old post for some Jane Eyre  eye candy.