Stuff n' Stuff: Brit Lit 2 of 4: Jane Eyre

This week it's one of our favorite movies ever: the 2006 BBC production of Jane Eyre starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens. For the first year of our marriage, we watched this (all 3 hours or so) just about once a month. I'm not joking. Ask Curmudgeon. It really is that good.

For any unfamiliar with the story, Jane is an orphan who lives off the very cold charity of an aunt who despises and abuses her, finally sending her away to a school where, while perhaps not abused per se, she grows up undernourished, constantly exposed to cold and damp, living rigidly within the small, grey universe that is her school. When she grows up, she accepts the position of governess to the ward of the rich, mysterious, moody and mostly absent Mr. Rochester.

Other than to say that it is a perfect gothic romance, that's all I'm going to give you on plot. We love Ruth Wilson who, despite being very beautiful in real life, makes an exceptionally plain, intelligent and likeable Jane. Toby Stephens is fantastic and so perfectly rude, brusque, moody and sarcastic that every other Mr. Rochester from every other version just fades away.
The other character I have to mention is St. John Rivers, played by Andrew Buchan. I have never liked St. John Rivers before... in the book and in other versions I've seen he has been so conceited, self-righteous and overbearing that I could barely stand the whole section of the story that he inhabits. Not so here... St. John is earnest, passionate, emotional and wholly human as portrayed in this film. And the beautiful thing about it is that he's also completely true to Bronte's character. I love love love love his part in the movie.