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Jane Austen Season

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 | Film | No Comments

So, Jane Austen Season is to start this weekend or so in the UK. As of mid-March DVDs are available. I’ve decided that regardless of their quality I must have them so they’re all on my pre-order list. My thougths in advance:

Generally I have a feeling that ITV adaptation are less what I like than BBC ones… But then again it’s just a feeling. Also I can’t quite picture Billie Piper as Fanny Price.

Mansfield Park I loved the 1999 version - though it was greatly disliked by the Austenites… But then, I’ve never read the book. I suppose I will have to do that soon….

Northanger Abbey I kind of loved the book. It is different from the rest of the Austen novels in that is in parts intended as parody of the then fashionable gothic romances. I absolutely hated the existing 80s film version and hope this new adaptation will bring Northanger Abbey closer to me. I should probably re-read the book since I’ve forgotten most details.

Persuasion I loved the book, it is my favourite Jane Austen book!!!! And I love the 1995 adaptation. What a new film could achieve is give the film a better look. I hope the new version will get the story right as well as the visuals. I have high hopes!!

Then of course there’s also the long ago announced BBC adaptation of ‘Sense and Sensibility‘. It is currently being cast and should run 4 hours. Now, that sounds promising. Because I’ve seen the Ang Lee film before having had a chance to read the actual novel I’ve never read it - like Mansfield Park. But it is sitting in my apartmen waiting to be read. I absolutely love Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood and I don’t think anyone can give a performance closer to my liking. Very annoying in that version however are the ages of the actors/actresses that are all over the place. Sure, Emma Thompson and the rest are all very talented but in film where everything is about telling a story visually believable casting is essential. So, I do think a new version can bring us something better!

Footloose

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 | Film | No Comments

I watched the 80s film ‘Footloose’ with a very young Kevin Bacon. Well, after looking up the dates on IMDb I realized he was actually 26!! I can’t believe how young he looked. And Sarah Jessica Parker was 19 - but looked older… The scenes of Kevin doing the gymnastics/dance scenes are amazing.

Tomorrow ‘La Vie En Rose’ opens in our cinemas (I still can’t believe Marion Cotillard didn’t win the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for best actress). I wanted to read the reviews in today’s newspaper, but they were full of comments on English-speaking (well, one is Spanish) films also opening tomorrow: Ghost Rider, Notes on a Scandal, The Good Sheperd and Pan’s Labyrinth.

Kisna

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 | Film | No Comments

Lately, I’ve been really lucky with the DVDs I bought, I love them. Flicka, Krisna…

One of my 2 rather secret and guilty pleasures (one is my activities as webmistress) is to lose myself in daydreams from time to time. I like to imagine myself as an actress. Of course, I’d be very talented and would have great ideas for new films. One such is along these lines: Early 20th century, a rather upper-class English couple staying in India for their holidays is killed. A simple farming family takes in their baby girl and raise her as their own. She grows up viewed as an outsider by the rest of the village community. Yet, she feels she belongs there. After the attentions of the son of a better-situated Indian family cause further problems she’s being sent away to a school in England - giving her the education she deserves as an English woman. Despite her English looks she is again an outsider at the school because she feels, thinks and acts like an Indian girl. Nevertheless, this new surroundings leave their mark on her personality, making her neither Indian nor English, but something on her own. When she goes back she takes her fate into her own hands and… Well, I neither have the talent nor the will to try myself as screen writer or the like. Even now, re-reading my attempt of putting the story into actual words, it already seems ridiculous. But I love to entertain the idea anyway….

Anyway, when I saw the Bollywood film ‘Kisna‘, the story about a white girl in India falling in love with an Indian boy I got very excited. Of course it is a totally different story than the one in my head, and made in true Bollywood style, but I fell in love with the film.

Plug

Monday, February 19th, 2007 | Friends, Random, Sites | No Comments

This is a plug for 2 of my current favourite websites, run by very talented people:

Scarlett Fan, by Riikka
I’ve always admired Riikka for her talent as a webmistress. She loyally cares for her sites, has great designs, and most of all provides loads of information about the actresses/actors and their work. Her websites are truly like interactive encyclopedias. ‘Scarlett Fan’ (which she took over from me) was outstanding before the site-revamp. Now, however it is simply amazing how complete, organized and well, perfect the site about one of the busiest and most popular actresses of our time is - and it is run by only one person: the great Riikka! Congratulations!

Miss Portman, by Mycah
Now, I don’t really know Mycah, but she’s one exceptional designer, that’s for sure. But also the re-opened site about the great Natalie Portman (featuring a design by very talented Frederik) is outstanding! Congratulations!

Jane Eyre

Thursday, February 8th, 2007 | Book, Film | No Comments

I have just seen the most recent adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic, the 2006 BBC miniseries. And I can’t stop thinking about it. I feel the same I did when I read the book years ago. I’ve always loved the novel but never any adaptions. I was starting to think I maybe misunderstood the book. But now with this new excellent film I’m as much in love with this story as ever.

I did love Anna Paquin in the 1996 version as the young Jane. The part of Jane’s early years is still the best in that adaptation; even when taking into account the many deleted scenes from that early part of Episode 1 in the new film I still prefer the other version. Charlotte Gainsbourg as the grown up Jane however, was just plain, lifeless and quite self righteous. How such a spirited and strong-willed young girl could grow up into such a woman, I could never understand.

Samantha Morton as the grown up Jane Eyre in another film was quite good actually, she did the best she could with the script. But I’ve never liked any Mr. Rochester.

The problem with the story I suppose is that it is very complex, subtle at the same time as dramatic, subdued as well as enormously passionate. Mr. Rochester especially is one of the most complex characters, nothing is black and white with him. It is only over the course of time that the characters are fully revealed for who they really are. And 90 minutes are just too short a time to do that justice. That’s the big advantage of the new film - it streches over 4 episodes.

While I deeply love the Pride & Prejudice story, the love between the characters is rather superficial when compared to the love bond that develops in the Jane Eyre novel. Through the talks (which have substance) and time spent together Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre really get that bond of love that allows them to cry across space. Their connection really is intellectual, emotional and passionate. And I felt all that in the new film.

Why I identify so much with Jane: she’s passionate, but also intelligent, her passion covered under something more quiet. She’s a combination of the clichés: a person thinking with the heart and the mind. That’s how I feel about myself. And just like Jane needed Mr. Rochester (and the year spent with the Reeds and living an independent life) to become the strong and mature woman she is at the end I think I need someone (or something to happen) to help me become who I really am.

Apart from doing all of the above justice, I also love the new film for its visual beauty. The northern rugged countryside, the fog and almost mystical atmosphere when the 2 meet for the first time and how the leading actors are believably plain and not-handsome (when judged at first appearance) while at the same time being attractive and more so as we get to know the characters. As Jane says: Beauty is from within, who you are.

Yes, dialogue has been changed, alterations have been made. If one want to find fault with this one, one will. But what’s the point of making a new adaptation if you’re doing the same as in all the previous ones? I for one can accept these changes and love both the original dialogue from the book and the one here. To me it is important that I can feel the story, the characters, the love, the passion, the emotions. And clearly I do.

The only ‘fault’ is maybe the change of how St. John found out who Jane really was. The way it is in the book, that he finds her painting with the signature feels much better. And the final scene is simply lifeless compared to what we’ve seen in the past four episodes. But then, I suppose, it’s hard to top something as passionate. North & South was less obviously passionate during the 4 episodes, so it was quite easy to make the most beautiful & romantic final scene ever. Sandy Welch (the screen writer) is talented. I love ‘Jane Eyre’, ‘North & South’ and ‘Our Mutual Friend’, all adapted by her.