Romantic Movie Weekend

When I was in hight school I started reading Jane Eyre and never finished it. I really thought I could relate in some way to plain Jane since I was plain, painfully shy and akward in high school. It has been on my must read classics list ever since. I figured that now as an adult I have a better attention span and can get through the novel so I gave it another try. I will admit, it has taken me a while to get through mostly because of a lot of distractions--like my many craft projects. But I finally finished it this week. I loved the novel! It is now one of my all time favorites. Next, I checked out several versions of it from my public library. I decided on the latest BBC version with Toby Stephens and newcomer Ruth Wilson. It was soooooo good! I cried a couple of times. I highly recommend this version of Jane Eyre. I liked it so much that it is now also one of my favorite movies. The script does deviate a little from the novel, but I think that you almost have to do that when you are making a movie from a novel. The best thing about this movie is the performances from the two lead actors. So good! You can feel Jane and Mr. Rochester's passion brought to life in their performances. By the way Toby Stephens--what a hottie!

On the other hand, I did not like the Timothy Dalton 1983 version. I must admit I didn't watch it entirely I just skipped to the key parts of the story to see if the passion expressed in the book would be conveyed well by the actors. In my opinion, it was not--it was way too much like a melodramatic soap opera--and also had the look of one. Still, I figure I will watch this entire movie as well some day because many Jane Eyre fans claim it is their favorite, but not this weekend. Anyway, that is what I did this weekend. Now I am trying to get Brian (my fiancee) to watch Jane Eyre with me. He said he would, although he is not a fan of period movies. I think he may like this one because it is not cheerful and bubbly like Jane Austen novels, which I love, but he does not.