We watched the 2006 drama of the Jane Eyre prequel a couple of nights ago, Anna's been on a Rafe Spall kick since the Desperate Romantics ended (I thought it was quite disappointing when they stopped focusing on Holman Hunt and Millais and turned William Morris into a weirdo). So we watched the drama and I felt it was all over extremely quickly. It began quickly, they were married within the first ten minutes, and then it suddenly ended after only an hour and twenty minutes.
I read the book, to see if it was anything like it. Turns out it's almost exactly the same. The only thing they left our was Antoinette's childhood, which is a shame because you get now why Rochester's such a prink, but not really why she "goes mad"... This isn't something that happened overnight, there was a lot going on there. Well, they talk about it, but not as much as in the novel.
I liked the book better, though I don't usually like to read things that are in first-person I thought it worked well, it felt isolated and weird just reading the two sides of the story. I especially liked how Rochester was never referred to by name, but you knew it was him. I pictured a young Toby Stephens rather than Rafe 'cause he was an excellent (though stunningly handsome) Rochester in 2006's Jane Eyre- sorry Rafe! You were really much better suited to the role. I didn't picture Rebecca Hall, even after watching her do a really good job in the drama, I think I pictured her more obviously mixed-race White Creole, rather than the way Rebecca Hall is, which is shiny white- thought turns out her Mum is opera singer Maria Ewing, who is much more how I imagined Antoinette!!
Anyway, it wasn't really my kind of book, but it had to be read, we can't be Bronte experts and not bother with the most famous and successful fanfic of all time!!
I never thought of Wide Sargasso Sea as fanfic, but I guess that's what it is... Kinda hilarious. I read it ages ago and I just remember being fairly unmoved for some reason.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Hall is awesome.