My New Favorite Romantic Movie!

Thanks to everyone who sent sweet notes about Clark. His funeral will be this Saturday out in Cali. Our pastor and Clark's brother's roommate are flying out there tomorrow. It is expected that the turnout will be massive. I always think that is such a wonderful testimony to how much that person touched this world. God is good and I know he will bless that gathering.

And in a very unnatural and awkward segue... I am in LOVE with a romantic movie. In LOVE, I tell yah!

I have always loved the 1944 version of Jane Eyre with a young Orson Wells and an impossibly lovely Joan Fontaine. But - having been a math/science dork with a reading block - I never read the book. And therefore never understood the layers of pain that brought Jane to Thornfield Hall. They hint at sadness and abuse but nothing like that of which Ms. Bronte wrote. No sirree Bob!

So in my quest to dig into the whole period piece romantic drama, I began with movies based on Ms. Austen's stories. And still have many of them on my NetFlix queue. But I broke it up with a version of Jane Eyre. It's another one of those amazing love stories that really is bad stuff for us single, recently divorced chicks to watch. And yet, watch I do.

I selected the 2006 Masterpiece Theater (pronounced in my head as "thee-tah") version of Jane Eyre. It's two discs and I'm cheap so I get one at a time. As I write this, I am fully in love with the first disc and am DYING until the second gets here. Ok, dying is a bit dramatic. But I can't wait and am giddy like a moon-eyed school girl with anticipation! [Note to self: Get out more.]


First off, the story starts when Jane is a bit of a girl. So again, thank you British story tellers for actually giving us all the back story which totally makes the rest of it all make SENSE. And the young Jane is brilliantly played by Georgie Henley (most recently Lucy in the wonderful Chronic-WHAT-cles of Narnia).

And then the movie cuts to the actress who plays the adult Jane and I am a complete sucker. Because she LOOKS like she could be the younger actress all grown up. I'm a sucker for actors that actually LOOK alike when the story needs them to. In this case, the adult actress acts the role out of the park. Grown up Jane is beautifully played by Ruth Wilson - with whom, I admit, I am unfamiliar. But she's just the right amount of gorgeous but "not quite a true beauty" as one character cruelly observes.

Now Mr. Rochester, here is a tough casting call in my opinion. He needs to be handsome enough but not too much so. And he needs to be strong, brooding and on the edge of mean. But in a sympathetic way. Yah, is that asking so much? Well, whoever the casting director was on this did a great job in my book. Toby Stephens gallops into screen and I am all excited because I've only ever seen this actor as a bad guy in a Pierce Brosnan James Bond movie. So here he is, all strong, brooding and on the edge of mean.

Let me tell you, the friendship built between Jane and Mr. Rochester is completely believable. And it's so real, it makes me think I want to relate to men like Jane does. With complete honesty and no hidden agenda. As the respect builds and begins to change to something more, it is palpable and made me root for them, even knowing the ending. Oh it's just genius!

I love it love it love it. I cannot WAIT for disc two to get here. And I think this will go on my Christmas list for 2009. I could watch this over and over and over.

So there's my new favorite romantic movie. For now.