There is of course one leading lady in Jane Eyre and Oh boy, does she do just that. Mia Wasikowska is a young Australian who began her acting career after an initial ballet fascination waned.
When she first appears, it seems as if this creature from the New World has been an inhabitant of the old for centuries. Her face is very like Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' or any number of classic female portraits from another era. After a while you realise the casting director and director Cary Fukunaga have chosen all their actors with this delicacy and precision.
The voice of Charlotte Brontë longing for broader horizons, for potency, money and love is very clear and all these thoughts flying through Jane's mind are writ large as they emerge in the seemingly effortless performance.
The camera work, music, costuming and makeup are also superb but in case you are tempted to wallow in the luxury of it, beware. Take care not to miss the dialogue...the scene where Jane jousts with her employer for the first time, her yearning for the wide world near a great mullioned window, her declaration of full sensibility in the face of Rochester's teasing arrogance.
It is every young girls dream and the gaggle of young women I saw it with could barely contain themselves so tightly is the sexuality wound but it also holds the dream of fulfilment and that is never out of date.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
HerStory
We have a lot to be grateful to Robert Redford for. In setting up Sundance Film Festival, he gave Indie movies a launching point in America which set a fire under the audience that first watched 'Shine'. It led to world wide success and an Oscar for Geoffrey Rush.
'The Conspirator' has the most come hither poster with its title over the poignant face of Abraham Lincoln. It opens with his shooting and the labyrinthine events that lead to the capture and conviction of some of the plotters as well as the trial of the only woman thought to be involved - Mary Surrat played by Robin Wright.
This actress has the sort of sombre appearance we would like to think The Founding Mothers had but her performance is graced by a sort of physical and spiritual loveliness that is hard to describe. Suffice to say that she is beguiling for every minute she has on screen. And if you think for a moment that is her persona, just look her up on wikipedia.
Redford has used a variety of UK actors including James McAvoy as Mary's attorney and Tom Wilkinson as his employer. It's a fine cast which is enhanced by the sets and costuming. I am not sure why the fashions of 1864 were so repulsive but the hoop skirt and greasy looking looped hair are beautifully reproduced.
The landscapes of the time are also breathtaking but if you think Redford thinks this film is just history, think again.
'The Conspirator' has the most come hither poster with its title over the poignant face of Abraham Lincoln. It opens with his shooting and the labyrinthine events that lead to the capture and conviction of some of the plotters as well as the trial of the only woman thought to be involved - Mary Surrat played by Robin Wright.
This actress has the sort of sombre appearance we would like to think The Founding Mothers had but her performance is graced by a sort of physical and spiritual loveliness that is hard to describe. Suffice to say that she is beguiling for every minute she has on screen. And if you think for a moment that is her persona, just look her up on wikipedia.
Redford has used a variety of UK actors including James McAvoy as Mary's attorney and Tom Wilkinson as his employer. It's a fine cast which is enhanced by the sets and costuming. I am not sure why the fashions of 1864 were so repulsive but the hoop skirt and greasy looking looped hair are beautifully reproduced.
The landscapes of the time are also breathtaking but if you think Redford thinks this film is just history, think again.
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